thirtieth year after the Creation of the World For probably Eves next Son was the next year after Abels Death and then Adam was one hundred and thirty years old Gen. 5. Moreover it is noted that in Enos his time there was a Reformation of things Gen. 4.26 then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord which seems to be meant of a Segregation of the precious from the vile 1. It cannot be meant that now men began to prophane the Name of the Lord. For the Apostacy began before in Cain and his Crew which was before the Birth of Enos one hundred and six years 2. Neither can it be meant that now there was the first Religious Worship of God For that had been long before by Abel and by Adam and Eve and others of the Godly in those times 3. Therefore it seems clearly to be meant of some new Reformation of Religion the wicked party being grown by this time very numerous the godly as it seemeth withdrew from them before when there was but one Cain that had fallen off Reformation might be attained by thrusting him out from among them 4. But now so great a number and perhaps the greater part being corrupted the Godly might not continue and mingle themselves with them nor could they cast them forth For this a minor part could not do to the greater part 5. Therefore they could do no more but withdraw and walk by themselves and so they came to be called the Sons of God that is Professors of the true Religion who were called by this Name and the other were but Sons of Men. From all which it is matter of admiration that there should be so much of opposition and aversion in the Minds of some unto all manner of Church-Government and Discipline at this day in this height of Gospel-Light the outward Signs and Ceremonies of Religion having been connected with Discipline in all Ages from the first Manifestation of the Gospel even until now 4. The Lord did in those days inspire and raise up some to be Prophets and Preachers of Righteousness besides the Instructions of all the godly Parents to the Children There were some persons peculiarly eminent amongst them as Enoch he prophesied that there was a day of Judgment coming Jude 14. which was partly fulfilled in Noahs Flood but shall be more fully and perfectly at the great Day The Name of his Son Methuselah was a Prediction of the Flood For it signifieth Mortis Gladius the Dart of Death or when he is dead God will send his sword his Dart and Arrows of Divine Wrath and Vengeance against a wicked World And lastly Noah himself a Preacher of Righteousness he lived amongst them six hundred years before the Flood and he preached and prophesied of the Flood for a hundred and twenty years before it came Of whom we shall speak further by and by Now this first Dispensation of the Lord unto his Church continued from first to last about sixteen hundred fifty six years For so long it was from Adam to the Flood as you will find if you compute and put together the Lives and Ages of those ten Antediluvian Patriarchs recorded in the fifth Chapter of Genesis But there was an Apostacy a falling away from God under this Dispensation It began in Cain and his Unbelief of the Gospel For by Faith Abel offered a more acceptable Sacrifice than he Heb. 11.4 therefore the others wanting Faith made his unacceptable At last he kills his Brother and being dealt with by God about it he repented not Gen. 4. But in time the Apostacy grew about it he repented not Gen. 4. But in time the Apostacy grew to its height that all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth Gen. 6.12 and there was a general Atheism and Prophaneness Job 22.16 17. The Apostacy under this Adamical Dispensation of the Gospel for I know not what fitter term to express it by consisted chiefly in three things 1. Sensuality and brutish Lusts they took their swinge in their Lusts This is mentioned in Gen. 6.2 and Matth. 24.38 The Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men and took them Wives Hence arose all the Heathenish Fables of the Adulteries and Whoredoms of their Gods For the old Pagan Gods were indeed no other but those old Gigantine Rebels and Sinners against the Lord in the first times and ages of the World 2. Violence and Oppression Gen. 6.11 The Earth also was corrupt before God and the Earth was filled with Violence Being men of great Strength and many of them no doubt Gyants they did whatsoever they list 3. Sinful Mixtures and Confusion between the Church and the World Gen. 6.2 The Sons of God that is the Professors of Religion married with the Daughters of Men that is Professors with such as were prophane The Sons of God cannot be meant of the Angels for they were not capable of bodily Lusts they could not fall in love with Women Hereupon the Lord brought in Desolation and cut them down with a Flood as Job 22.16 and so put this Adamical Dispensation to an end but brought in another and a new Dispensation of himself viz. 2. To Noah and his Posterity This was the Lords second Dispensation to his People For the Lord would not yet cast off his Care of wretched Man but recover him and set him up again once more Now unto all the former Discoveries there were several additions For that great Gospel-Promise that a Saviour should come and that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head they had that and did live upon it still they had also Sacrifices and Cloathing and Church-Discipline but new Discoveries were added The Lord spake something more of his Mind unto them There were some further Beams of Light appearing and shining forth upon them 1. He saved them by Water in the Ark the Story whereof you have in the 6 7 and 8. Chap. of Genesis remembred 1 Pet. 3. as a Type of Baptism And by the way this could not but be of great use to all Posterity For though Nature would teach men the use of Boats and lesser Vessels to pass the lesser Brooks and Rivers yet that they had any great Ships before the Flood is not probable So that here it seems was the beginning of the Art of Navigation and Shipping 2. He renews his Covenant With them with Noah and all his Seed even all mankind and gave them the Rainbow for an outward Sign and Pledge thereof Gen. 9.8 9 12. to 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the first instance where the word Covenant is used concerning the Transactions between God and Men. The Rainbow was the Sign thereof the horns downwards and the back upwards to Heaven intimating that the Lord will not shoot out of his Bow the Arrow of another Deluge which whether it were there before and now only made a Sign of the Covenant or that now it had its first Existence is
can see but created Manifestations and Representations of his Glory he did appear in So Exod. 20.18 and 19.18 19 20 Jehovah descended symbolically in regard of the glorious tokens and symbols of his Presence But then they saw no similitude only Fire and Smoke and the Mountain shaking Deut. 4.12 Exod. 24.10 11. And they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphire stone also they saw God and did eat and drink Exod. 34.5 6. And the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed c. It seemeth by the expressions Deum humanâ effigie pertranfijsse that God passed by in an humane shape All the three Persons of the Trinity have appeared distinctly in visible Representations God the Father and the Son Dan. 7.9 13. I beheld till the Thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven to the ancient of days Revel 4.1 compared with Chap. 5.7 where we find that the Lamb took the Book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the Throne So that here be two of those glorious Persons distinctly appearing Ezek. 1.26 Above the Firmament there was the likeness of a Throne and upon it the likeness as the appearance of a Man about it It seems to be meant of God the Father because Ezek. 9.2 4. He is distinguished from the Man with a Writers Inkhorn by his side who is thought to be our only High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ The second Person Jesus Christ To Moses Exod. 3.2 4. For he is called the Angel which agrees not so well to the first Person And Moses prays for his Good will Deut. 33.16 Therefore it was not any created Angel but Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant of Grace as a praeludium to his Incarnation So to Isaiah 6.1 he saw the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ so it is interpreted John 12.41 So Gen. 32.24 And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day that is God in the form of a Man as the old Geneva Note hath it The Prophet Hosea saith it was God Hos 12.3 4. and Jacob wept and made supplication unto him and there he or God spake with us The third Person the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove at the Baptism of Jesus Christ Matth. 3. 2. Sometimes Angels have appeared sometimes in Bodies of humane shape provided for them by the Power of God either created of nothing and after the Apparition annihilated or compacted of the four Elements and especially of Air condensed and then resolved again after the Appearance was past into the matter of which they were compounded As to Lot Gen. 19.1 10. And there came two Angels to Sodom and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them and bowed himself with his Face to the ground These Angels vers 10. are called Men. To David 2. Sam. 24.17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the People and said Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly c. He saw the Angel Which is further explained 1 Chron. 21.16 And David lift up his eyes and saw the Angel of the Lord stand between the Earth and the Heaven with a drawn Sword in his hand At Christs Resurrection divers Angels appeared in the shapes of Men Matth. 28.2 3. An Angel rolled back the Stone from the door of the Sepulchre and sate upon it c. Luke 24.4 Behold two Men stood by them in shining Raiment So at his Ascension Acts 1.10 Behold two Men stood by them in white Apparel Sometimes the Angels did appear not only in humane shapes but with other Representations accompanying them as Horses and Chariots of Fire that is with Riders upon them 2 Kings 6.17 Behold the Mountain was full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha Zach. 1.8 Behold a Man riding upon a red Horse and behind him there were red Horses speckled and white and 6.1 there came four Chariots out from between the two Mountains ver 5. These are the four Spirits of the Heavens 3. Sometimes other things were represented and shewn in Vision to them to signifie to them the Mind of God as Jerem. 1.11 13. The Prophet there seeth the Rod of an Almond tree and a seething pot with the face thereof toward the North So Amos cap. 7. ver 1 4 7 8. has several things presented in Vision to him And this is one of these divers manners of the Lords speaking viz. by Visions or Representations to the eye waking 2. Another manner was by Dreams that is by Representation of things to the Fancy in sleep and they had not only things presented but usually Words spoken to interpret them Sometimes the Lord gave divine Dreams to wicked men as to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar but they knew not what they meant and so were not Prophets but the Lord sent the Interpretation by others who were his faithful Servants But the Prophets and Servants of God usually had both the Dream and some further light for the Perception and Interpretation of it As to Abraham Gen. 15.12 And when the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and lo an horrour of great Darkness fell upon him and he said unto Abram know of a surety c. ver 13. And to Jacob Gen. 28.12 13. the Dream of the Ladder ver 12. is interpreted to him by God in the following verses and 31.11 12. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob in a Dream and speaks unto him and 46.2 God spake unto Israel in the Visions of the night So to Daniel cap. 7. 1 7 13. the divers night Visions he had there are afterwards interpreted to him ver 15 c. To Joseph Matth. 1.20 An Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a Dream saying fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife and Matth. 2.13 19. An Angel of the Lord appeareth in a Dream to him saying arise and take the young Child and his Mother and go into the Land of Israel This way and manner of speaking seems to have been very frequent and usual in those ancient times as those words of Elihu intimate Job 33.14 15 16. For God speaketh once yea twice in a Dream in a Vision of the night See Aynsworth on Gen. 20.3 and Gen. 37.5 when deep sleep falleth upon Men in slumbers upon the bed then he openeth the Ears of Men c. 3. A third manner was by Voices by an audible Voice uttered either by God himself immediately or the Angels And these audible Voices are accompanied sometimes with visible Appearances to the eye but sometimes the Voice alone without any visible apparition To our first Parents Gen. 3.3 It was the Voice of God
trance but having his eyes open But on the contrary such as were acted by Satan they had their extatical Furies wherein their Minds were so discomposed that they were not compotes sanae mentis As some have written of the Sybils that when after their Prophesyings they came to themselves again they had forgotten what they had said and so could not review and correct what was written from them But it was not so with the Prophets of God John wrote and had Order to write his Apocalypse and so the other Prophets And when those to whom and by whom the Devil spake were not discomposed to such a degree even to fury and Distraction yet they were always debased and brought down below themselves The Lords Prophets were raised above themselves These were depressed even below themselves by dealing with Satan 3. The Prophets and Servants of God had an inward Seal from God of the Truth of what they spake Not unlike that new Name in the white Stone which none could read but he that had it Revel 2.17 Jer. 11.18 They believed and therefore spake 2 Cor. 4.13 See Isai 52.6 My people shall know that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. The true Prophets were no Scepticks they were as sure of what they said that it was the Mind of God as Ministers are now when they preach the Gospel 1. Joh. 1.1 2. On the contrary those by whom Satan spake either knew that they were acted by the Devil as the Witch at Endor Or else were deluded by him to think it was God or else knew not but were uncertain in themselves 4. They had also some of those ordinary Rules of Tryal that we have now As for instance If God confute them by the event Deut. 18.21 22 or if it correspond with the event yet if it be contrary to the Fundamentals of Religion See Deut. 13.1 2 3. Or if they be wicked men on the one side and the Prophets of the Lord on the other This gave some glimmerings of Light to Jehosaphat 1 King 22.7 They were Baalites pretenders indeed to Jehovah but superstitious wretches therefore he could not acquiesce in what they had said Quest 2. Whether these ways of Discovery be now ceased yea or no Answ As to that the Text is plain enough That instead of all those divers manners used by God of old he hath now substituted instead thereof this one and only way of revealing himself viz. in and by his Son And his Son speaks by his Word and Ordinances as also by the Works of his Providence in all which his Spirit breaths Therefore there we are to meet with God and to hear his Voice and there only to expect it These old things are vanished away Some think there be some footsteps of them to this day See a notable Instance of Information by a Dream in the Life of Zuinglius Melch. Adam p. 43. And of a Vision in Melancthon on Daniel 10. 1 But first such things are altogether extraordinary the Lord goes out of his ordinary course when he doth such things they are not the standing ways that God hath appointed under the Gospel therefore they are not to be expected or trusted to 2. They are only to be regarded in the way of a Providence not in the way of an Ordinance and to be tryed and judged by the Matter of them as agreeing or disagreeing with the Scripture As if a man in a Dream have some Duty some Scripture-truth brought to him he is to observe and accept the Providence of God in it Or if he find a strong impulse or motion of the Spirit in his Heart whereby some Truth or Duty is strongly impress'd and set upon his Heart Let him examine it by the Scripture and if the Scripture say it is a Duty he is to look at that internal motion and impression as a motion of the Spirit of God else not Vse 1. See the variety of Gods Wisdom and Goodness to his people that he hath so many ways revealed himself to them Vse 2. We may see something of the lowness of that legal Dispensation from this which hath been said that the Lord spake in such divers manners Vse 3. Bless God for the days wherein we live and for the Dispensation we are under It is much clearer and better For it is by his Son speaking by his Word working and breathing by his Spirit The Light shines much clearer We see that which many Kings and Prophets and righteous men have desired to see and have not seen as Matth. 13.17 Luke 10.24 Christ spake it to his Disciples then but it holds true concerning all the Saints under the New Testament It is true there was a Cloud of Antichristian Darkness did arise which did exceedingly obscure Gospel-light But that Cloud was never so dark but that the Elect of God did see through it in some measure Moreover the Lord hath begun to dispel and scatter those Clouds of Antichristian Darkness and will in time scatter them from off the face of the earth 2. We are now to speak to the second Word these divers times Having shewed the divers Manners of the Lords speaking to his people of old we are now to shew the divers Times or seasons wherein he did it For he spake not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by piece-meal not all at once but here a little and there a little first one piece of his Mind was discovered at one time then another piece at another time first a little Light brake forth some darker hints and intimations then further and clearer Discoveries and Manifestations by degrees In the opening of this we shall have occasion to run through some general heads of the History of the Church throughout the Scripture till the coming of Jesus Christ And it is an Inquiry both useful and profitable and also pleasant and delightful to an inquisitive Mind to view the several states of Religion and of the Church of God in the several ages of the World Under every one of which we shall have occasion to take notice both of Gods Manifestations and of mens Departures from the Lord and from the Truth That we may see the occasion of every new Discovery they departed and destroyed themselves and then the Lord appeared again in recovering Dispensations Now these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these several pieces and parcels of the Lords Discoveries and Manifestations of himself may be referred to two general heads 1. Before the Law 2. Under the Law These were the two great pieces of it and the Scripture takes notice of them both Of that Dispensation that was before the Law from Adam to Moses as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.14 Death reigned from Adam to Moses Of the Dispensation under the Law our Saviour speaks Matth. 11.13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John again Luk. 16.16 the Law and the Prophets were until John The difference between
disputable But it is probable enough that it might be altogether new yea though we suppose the Rainbow to arise from natural causes For a years Deluge could not but cause a great alteration in all the Elements and in the Clouds and in the Air whereby there might new Phaenomena new appearances in the Heavens which never were before Moreover it might be produced by a new creating Power of Providence beyond the force of any natural causes and also instituted for a Sign of the Covenant It could not have afforded any great assurance to them if they had only the seeing and beholding of it which was all that was to be done in this Sacrament to see nothing but what they had seen before could yield but small comfort and assurance to that new World And that this Covenant had a further Mystery in it than meerly outward Preservation from another Deluge See Caryl on Job 37.15 See Isai 54.9 For this as the is Waters of Noah unto me The Covenant of my Peace shall not be removed The Rainbow therefore was a Sign of the Covenant of Grace Hence Revel 4.3 Behold a Throne was set in Heaven and one sate on the Throne and there was a Rainbow round about the Throne Confer on Rom. 5.14 of Noah as a personal Type Revel 10.1 Christ the Angel of the Covenant is described as having a Rainbow upon his Head 3. He inlargeth their provision of Food to eat by giving them a Commission to eat the Flesh of the Brute creatures Gen. 9.3 At first there is no mention of any other provision but the Fruits of the Earth Gen. 1.29 But there was need of some further supply because it is probable that the Vigor of the Earth and the Virtue of the Herbs and Plants and Fruits thereof could not but be somewhat impaired and decayed by that whole years Winter Therefore for men upon a Religious account to forbid the eating of some Meats as the Papists forbid Flesh in Lent it is a superstitious Infringement of the Liberty here granted and given by the Lord unto all the Sons of Noah 4. The Blood was wholly reserved and excepted Gen. 9.4 But Flesh with the Life thereof which is the Blood thereof shall ye not eat This seems to be done partly upon a moral and partly upon a spiritual and Ceremonial account Moral for mans Health and to prevent that Ferity and Savageness which Mankind is so apt to degenerate into as in some barbarous Nations they would drink the living Blood out of the Horse they rode upon opening a Vein with an Instrument when they were thirsty This is barbarous and savage and this Prohibition here given excludes and forbids such a Practice which those Gyants of wickedness before the Flood it is not improbable but that to other barbarous and raging sins they might add the eating of living Creatures alive therefore the Lord doth so directly and expresly interdict and forbid it And it is the Judgment of some very learned men that the eating of Blood cold and drest as other Meat was not at all forbidden For the Prohibition lies not directly against Blood but against the eating of living Flesh Flesh animated with the living Blood For the Blood is the Seat and Chariot of the Life and Vital Spirits Some think it was done upon a Ceremonial account The Blood was reserved as a sacred thing unto the Lord till such time as that precious Blood was shed which hath put an end to all Types and Shadows This is expressed Levit. 17.11 I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your Souls For it is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the Soul as the former moral Reason is expressed v. 14. It is true the Ceremonial Law came by Moses but the meaning is not that there were no parts at all of it before his time for there were Sacrifices from the Fall of Man But the meaning is that Moses did incorporate and sum them all up together with many divine enlargements and additions into that great body of Ceremonial Laws by him established and setled in that Church and People of Israel Therefore there might be a Ceremonial Prohibition of Blood even from Noahs time 5. The Lord now gave unto Mankind that great Ordinance of Magistracy Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed Of which Divines say truly that it is Remedium corruptae Naturae But yet corrupt Nature so far as appears out of the sacred History never had the Use and Benefit of it till now but rather on the contrary the Lord secures Cain as it were by special Dispensation Gen. 4.15 The Government of the World before seems to have been only domestical and paternal which might easily be Parents then living so long as to see whole Towns and Cities of their own Children and Posterity But this paternal way of Government was so mild that it was not effectual and sufficient to restrain Vice and Wickedness but it grew to such Gigantick strength and height that there was a necessity to cut them down with a Flood But therefore now to prevent the like Degeneracy and Destruction the Lord puts a stronger Bridle of Restraint upon the outragious Wickedness and Corruption of mans Nature namely this of Magistracy or Civil Government whereby some are intrusted with the Power of the Sword to take away the Lives of others in grosser cases especially that of Murther 6. God divided the World amongst them Gen. 10. which consisted of three parts then known though not by these names to wit Asia Africk and Europe whereof Sems Posterity dwelt chiefly in Asia Chams in Africk and to Japhets Posterity Europe fell known in Scripture by this name The Isles of the Gentiles Gen. 10.5 of whose Posterity we our selves are And now one would think Mankind was happy when God thus sets them up again begins with them upon a new score as it were But there were three or four things especially that did ruine all and brought this Dispensation to an end 1. The Apostacy of Cham and his Posterity Gen. 9.22 an unnatural sin to despise and dishonour his Parents Calvin apud Wallet in Cor. and himself not a Child when he did this but above a hundred years old ver 25. the Curse is thundred forth against Canaan so the Punishment answers the Sin Cham is an ungratious Son to his Father therefore he hath a cursed Son And perhaps Canaan might be present and Partner in his Fathers Sin or the most delightful of his Children being the youngest and so the Cursing him would be most likely to pierce and grieve his Fathers hard Heart and it may be so express'd for the greater comfort of the Israelites that the Nation they were to expel were a Generation of the Curse of God But certain it is that C ham himself was intended and cursed in that Curse This fell out about forty years as some reckon after the
the divine Authority of the Scripture Yea the Lord raiseth them to an higher pitch of Reformation than ever Nehem. 9. They kept the Feast of Tabernacles so as it had not been kept from the days of Joshua Doubtless David and other reforming Kings had kept it but that part of the Ordinance the dwelling in Booths had been as it may seem omitted and neglected by them another Corruption was the mixture of the Church with Heathens by strange Marriages Ezr. 9 and Nehem 10. and the Samaritans those Mongrels would have intruded but were rejected Ezra 4. Thus they purged and reformed themselves from both these corrupting mixtures in the matter of the Church 5. And lastly the Old Tetament was concluded by the Prophet Malachy who was the last of all the Prophets The Lord would have no Prophet beyond the first times of the second Temple nor no Writings of men in the age immediately after the Apostles immediately following the Gospels Promulgation That it might manifest it self more clearly by its own own Light to be supernatural This Period viz. that of the second Temple continued four hundred and ninety years Dan. 9.24 seventy Prophetical weeks is four hundred and ninety solar years Now such a people thus delivered and restored twice delivered out of Bondage first out of Egypt and then a second time out of Babylon one would think they would have abiden with the Lord for ever after And one thing they did learn viz. to forsake gross Idolatry and this was all But they grew more rigidly formal and exquisitely hypocritical than ever and Religion ran out into Sects and Parties and Factions amongst them There were Pharisees and Sadduces and Galilaeans and Herodians amongst them Names which the Scripture mentions and Histories speak of another Sect called the Essenes And thus it was with them when our Lord Jesus came in the Flesh The inward and spiritual part of Godliness and the Practice of that which is truly so was in a very great measure lost amongst them being eaten out partly by their Sects and Divisions partly by their rigid Formality and Hypocrisie And thence at last the Lord sending his Son their Messiah so long promised and longed for by them they reject and crucifie him So the Lord having by all these various Dispensations and turnings of his hand mended the old House as it were seven times over he resolves now at last to pull it down for all these legal Dispensations were but the mending as it were and repairing of the old House but the Gospel pulls it quite down and builds a new one Thus I have led you thorough the several times and seasons wherein the Lord spake unto them of old you have seen the gradual progress of the Light and Work of God among them in those seven pieces of the Old Testament Dispensation which have been briefly run thorough That which follows next to be spoken to is the Reasons of the Point why the Lord spake and revealed his mind in such divers ways and manners and in these several pieces and parcels neither in one way only nor at one time Quest What may be the Reasons of the Point The Lord could have spoke his whole Mind at once in one way and at one time therefore why did he speak in such divers manners and in so many several pieces and parcels Answ Although it is a sufficient general account to say that this or that is best because God wills it For he doth all things well and his Will is the Rule of Goodness and it is not for us to call him to an account of what he doth yet we may humbly and modestly inquire into the reason of things not to contend him with for doing so for that were Prophaneness but to understand something of his Wisdom therein The Reasons therefore may be referred to two heads 1. In regard of our Weakness 2. For his own greater Glory I shall speak briefly unto both these adding but a little unto what others have said upon this Subject Reas 1. In regard of our Weakness The Lord herein condescends and accommodates himself unto us You may see his Condescention in four things 1. In that we are dull and slow of understanding to apprehend the Truth Therefore the Lord illustrates the same things several ways like the Light shining into the House at several Windows that in such a plenty of Light some of all those Beams may shine into our Hearts Luk. 24.25 we are slow of Heart to believe 2. We are but narrow-mouth'd Vessels not able to receive much at once As we are slow to receive any thing at all so we are uncapable to receive much at once Therefore the Lord teacheth us here a little and there a little a little to Adam a little more to Noah and a little more to Abraham and yet more fully and copiously to Moses leading them on by degrees as they were able that so men in several ages might know what their Fathers did and something more Isai 28.9 10 13. Geneva Note in loc They must have one thing oftentimes told 3. By this various and gradual proceeding God did prepare and fit his People by weaker and lower Dispensations for further and higher Dispensations As a Child by learning his A. B. C. and his Primmer is fitted to go into an higher harder Book so the Church of God by those immediate Revelations and Visions c. so frequent in those first times when they wanted the written Word was fitted to receive the Scriptures with the more Desire and Reverence and Faith Exod. 19.9 Lo I come unto thee in a thick Cloud that the People may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever And they did believe him ever after so Joh. 9.29 We know that God spake unto Moses So the Church of God being exercised under the Mosaical Pedagogy so long together they were thereby prepared to welcom the Gospel more gladly when it came How gloriously and joyfully was it entertained when they had waited for it about four thousand years with what Triumphings in God! that now they saw that which Kings and Prophets and righteous men have desired to see but it had not been granted to them see Luk. 10.23 24. That which all the Prophets had spoken of since the World began Luk. 1.70 Act. 3.24 The Mystery that had been hid from Ages and Generations Col. 1.26 4. A fourth Condescention of the Lord herein is this By these varieties of Dispensation the Lord provides to have his Truth set on with all kind of Arguments yea with Arguments of peculiar concernment and suitableness to take with us As Moses to the Jews The Lord made not this Covenant with our Fathers but with us Deut. 5.3 And Manna which thy Fathers knew not Deut. 8 16. So Christ Joh. 13.34 A new Commandment give I unto you And the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.8 A new Commandment I write unto you It was an old Commandment but set
for evermore Psal 16.11 So likewise the Tree of Life in Paradise was a Type of Christ though it was created upon the third day of the Week and before the Gospel it could not be a Type of Christ yet after the Fall and after the preaching of the Gospel Gen. 3. it might be designed and ordained to this use As God provided Physical Herbs for Man before he fell or needed them as to that use of Physick so this Tree of Life before Sin or the Gospel was known It seems to be so spoken of Revel 2.7 and 22.2 The Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise Christ in the midst of the Church Mans Ejection out of Paradise a Type of his deserved Exclusion out of Heaven And the Cherubims with flaming Swords Gen. 3. ult an outward and visible shadow of the Wrath of God and of the Angels of God as Executioners of it on Man who were created to be Ministers to his good and are so again through Grace But as in our natural condition they are the Lords Hosts to fight against us But there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a much more put upon Christ His saving Virtue far exceeds that cursed influence of Adam in sundry particulars amply opened by the Apostle from ver 12. to the end of the Chapter 1. The disparity is very great both in their Persons The first Adam is of the earth earthly his Name is but Adam Earth or Red earth but the second Adam is the Lord from Heaven 2 Cor. 15.47 2. In their Headship and Undertaking the one of a Covenant of Works the other of a better Covenant of Grace 3. In the Success of their Undertakings The one failed the other kept the Covenant the first Adam was tempted by Satan and conquered by him but Christ was tempted but overcame the Tempter 4. In their Influences The first Adam was made a living Soul the second a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The one conveys all evil Sin and Death to his Seed the other communicates all good Righteousness and Life to his There is Righteousness opposed to Sin and Life to Death and with a much more Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. Not as the Offence so is the free Gift At the great Day when Adam shall see his Seed lost and undone he must own it I have embrued my hands in the Blood of all these But Christ shall say here am I and the Children which God hath given me and not one of them is lost 2. Enoch the seventh from Adam It is true he is not so expresly mentioned in Scripture for a Type of Christ as Adam is but yet by comparing the Scriptures we may discern a clear analogy between Christ and him how he was made like unto the Son of God in sundry things 1. He was a most illustrious Type of Christs Ascension into Heaven and indeed the only Type they had of it before the Law They had but two in all Elijah under the Law and Enoch before the Law Therefore we cannot well omit him Gen. 5.24 Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him and Heb. 11.5 he was translated that he should not see Death and was not found because God had translated him Some look upon this as a pledg of their Translation that shall be found alive at Christs second coming of whom the Apostle saith they shall be changed or translated 1 Thess 4. But it looks first and chiefly at Christ himself at his Ascension This I mention first as being the chief particular but a further analogy may observed in sundry other particulars also as 2. There was in Enoch some shadow of Christs Prophetical Office we read of Enochs Prophesie Jude 14 15. But Christ is the true Prophet who hath unsealed the whole Book of Gods Counsels that Liber fatidicus Rev. 5. he hath opened it so far as is fit and needful for his Church to know And as Enoch prophesied of the Day of Judgment so hath Christ very fully and frequently 3. We may set him among the Types of Christ for his unparallell'd Holiness in the age wherein he lived which was a corrupt and evil time all Flesh began to corrupt their way Gen. 5.22 24. Enoch walked with God it is twice repeated as worthy of special remark so Christ fulfilled all Righteousness Matth. 3.15 4. His pleasing God For so it is testified of him Heb. 11.5 so Christ Matth. 3.17 this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Joh. 8.29 I do always those things that please him He is pleased so well with him that he is well pleased with Sinners for his sake even for his Righteousness sake 5. His very Name Enoch hath something in it dedicated unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consecratus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dedicavit consecravit From whence some derive the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Initio and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Feast of Dedication Joh. 10.22 So was Christ Luk. 1.35 that holy thing my Servant whom I have chosen Isai 42.1 and 49.5 formed me from the Womb to be his Servant 6. Some have added in regard of the continuance of his Life Henochs days were as the days of the Sun For he lived three hundred sixty five years Gen. 5.24 as many years as there be days in the year And of Christ it is is said his Throne shall continue for ever as the Sun before me Psal 89.36 3. The third typical person that we mentioned is Noah He is made a Type 1 Pet. 3.20 21. in regard of his preaching and saving those that believed him in the Ark. So Christ hath published the Gospel Matth. 11.27 no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him He came and preached Peace Ephes 2.17 1 Pet. 3.19 Christ preached in Noah he saves them that believe his Doctrine he saves them in the Ark of his Church by the Covenant and Water of Baptism 4. Melchizedek was also a Type of Christ and most especially in regard of the excellency and eternity of his Person Priesthood and Kingdom Psal 110 4. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek with Heb. 7.2 3 4. made like unto the Son of God But there is not time to insist upon these nor to proceed to the rest of the Types I shall therefore for the present conclude with something of Use and practical Improvement and shall raise the Uses not so much from the Doctrine in general but rather from that which hath been spoken upon it at this time Vse 1. Learn and know something more of Jesus Christ by what you have heard or if you knew it before let it be more deeply imprinted upon your hearts Let us sum up all together for they are all but partial Types and weak and imperfect Shadows of the Messiah but all put together will give the greater lustre like the Galaxia which is said
a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 God was so pleased with Noahs Sacrifice that he promised to destroy the world by Water no more So God is well pleased with Christs Sacrifice he is so pleased with it that he will be gratious unto sinners for the sake thereof so as not to destroy them but save their Souls 5. Noahs Covenant and the Rainbow the sign thereof was a Type of the Covenant of Grace Gen. 9.12 13. It is a question whether there was any Rainbow before it may seem not Because it had been small comfort and assurance to the new World to see that which they had seen before and to have such a sign of the Covenant Therefore some think that the Rainbow was not from the beginning but as the Lord gave a new Promise so he created a new thing for a Sign thereof Confer on Heb. 1.1 2. of Noah 's Dispensation But how may it appear that the Covenant of Grace was here held forth See Isai 54.9 10. This is unto me as the Waters of Noah c. Ezek. 1. ult As the appearance of the Bow thot is in the Cloud in the day of Rain so was the appearance of the Brightness round about Revel 10.1 and 4.3 Vse From all that hath been said of Noah Here is ground of unspeakable Comfort to the Church and People of God in all their troubles Afflictions are often compared to deep Waters Psalm 42.7 but God will provide for the safety of his people Psal 18.16 17. he sent from above he took me and drew me out of deep Waters Isai 43.2 the Waters shall not overflow thee The Rainbow appears when there hath been rainy weather the Rainbow in a Cloud in a day of Rain Ezek. 1. ult So when the Church hath been in Floods of great Waters Christ appears with a Rainbow Revel 10.1 And as he promised there shall be no more a Flood to destroy the Earth so there is a time coming when there shall be no more floods of Persecution to overwhelm his Church I have sworn I will not be angry with thee nor rebuke thee any more Isai 54.9 So for particular Souls that have been overflown with the Wrath of God and the Waters have gone over their Soul there is a time coming when Christ will appear with a Rainbow about his Head To some he gives such an inward Seal and Testimony of their Adoption that they never loose it but carry it in their bosoms to their dying day keep their Assurance all their days And though I know it is otherwise with some of his Children yet at last when they dye and come to Heaven he will never overflow the soul any more with his Anger 4. The fourth personal Type we named was Melchizedek his Story is in Gen. 14. That he was a Type of Christ is clear from Psal 110.4 where speaking of and to the Messiah he saith The Lord hath sworn thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek as also from that which the Apostle saith Heb. 7.3 that he was made like unto the Son of God and abideth a Priest continually Assimilatus or gerens similitudinem Some Controversie there is who this Melchizedek was and different Opinions there are The Papists have very roving conjectures about it He was not Christ himself because he is said to be made like unto the Son of God Heb. 7.3 but no man is said to be like himself For similitude is between two That he was not an Angel or an appearance of God but a true and real Man may be proved by this Argument because every Priest is taken from amongst men Heb. 5.1 but Melchizedek was a Priest And the Scripture speaks of him as a Man For it mentions the place where he dwelt viz. at Salem which must needs be understood historically because there is no reason to constrain us to run a to metaphorical sense And whereas some object there was no man then superior to Abraham in Faith and Holiness But Melchizedek was greater than Abraham Some answer it thus Non sanctitate sed dignitate praefertur Abrahae For that Abraham was but an inferior person whereas Melchizedek was King and Priest in Salem But we may answer further That there might be some more eminent than Abraham some of his godly Ancestors who were aged and experienced Saints as Sem for instance might towards the end of their lives be more eminent than Abraham was in his youth of whom it is certain by the Genealogies Gen. 11. that he was yet living and he was the greatest person then in the world yea greater than Abraham as being one of his Progenitors and Ancestors Therefore many do conjecture that Sem was this Melchizedek and indeed the conjecture is not improbable though for any certain demonstration it is not to be expected because the Lord hath purposely concealed who he was to the end he might be a more illustrious Type of Christ appearing as it were like a Man fallen down from Heaven and destinated to that end Quest Wherein was Melchizedek a Type of Christ Answ In regard of the Eternity and Excellency of his Person and Office both as King and Priest There be four particulars here included He was a Type 1. In regard of his Kingdom He is called Melchizedek which the Apostle interprets King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 So Christ is King of his Church and King of Righteousness Psal 45.6 7. King of Salem which signifies Peace It is thought to be the same City which was afterward called Jerusalem so Christ was King of Jerusalem Zach. 9.9 and King of Peace Isai 9.6 My Peace I leave with you Joh. 14.27 Mic. 5.5 This Man shall be our Peace Peace that passeth all understanding and Righteousness first then Peace Isai 32.17 the Fruit of Righteousness shall be Peace Otherwise thou shalt have no Peace from Christ unless he give thee Righteousness first both imputing his own Righteousness for Justification to thee and infusing the inherent Righteousness of Sanctification into thee He will not create Peace for thee 2. In regard of his Priesthood Melchizedek was Priest of the most high God Gen. 14.18 Heb. 7.1 so is Christ both King and Priest This was extraordinary in Melchizedek that he might be the more glorious Type God did not ordinarily allow it the House of Aaron had not the Kingdom the House of David had not the Priesthood they might not intermeddle in the Priests Office King Vzziah was smitten for it but Melchizedek was both 3. In that shadow of Eternity which the Story in Genesis doth cast upon him He is there brought in as a greater person than Abraham the Father of the faithful but neither his Birth nor Death mentioned neither his Father nor Mother without either beginning or end of days Heb. 7.3 It is not meant that he was so really but only in sacred History and in a Type or Shadow For it is impossible for any Creature to be without beginning
that is an essential property of God Novitas essendi est de Essentia Creaturae And that Melchizedek was a Creature and not God was proved before because he was Priest and King of Salem and every Priest is taken from amongst men de Ratione Sacerdotis est ut sit verus Homo it is an essential requisite in a Priest that he be indeed a Man Melchizedek therefore was a Man but yet eternal typically and in a figure Christ is called a Priest for ever Psal 110.4 and of Melchizedek the Apostle saith he abideth a Priest continually Heb. 7.3 You shall never have cause to say My Friend alas my best Friend is dead For he hath an everlasting Priesthood and lives for ever to intercede and make mention of you to the Lord Heb. 7.25 4. In regard of his Preheminence and Excellency above all other men Vide My Notes of Christs Priestly Office wherein greater than Aaron Behold how great this man was Heb. 7.4 he was greater than Aaron the Priest of the Lord yea greater than Abraham the Forefather of Aaron He was greater than Abraham as in other respects so in these three 1. In that he blessed Abraham Gen. 14.19 Heb. 7.7 and without contradiction the less is blessed of the greater so Christ blesseth us Luke 24 50 51. All our Blessings are through him he is the Fountain of Blessing 2. In that Melchizedek did refresh Abraham and his Army Gen. 14.18 and Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth Bread and Wine that is as the old Note well explains it for Abraham and his Souldiers Refreshment and not to offer Sacrifice So Christ refresheth his Church with the Word and Sacraments Matth. 11. I will give you rest or I will refresh you Ego reficiam vos 3. In that Melchizedek did receive an homage and acknowledgment of Tythes from Abraham and from Levi and Aaron in his Loins Thus they paid their Respects to him Gen. 14.20 Heb. 7.9 whether of his Spoils or of his Goods it was the tenth part Some have gone so far from this as to infer that we ought to give unto Christ the Tenth part of our Goods as well as the Seventh part of our Time But to let that pass Certain it is that we ought to give some fit proportion of our Estates unto God for his use and service And as he was herein greater than Abraham so likewise greater than Aaron and the Aaronical Order Melchizedeks was an higher Order in many respects largely opened in that 7th to the Hebrews Vse This that hath been said concerning Melchizedek as a Shadow of Jesus Christ affords the greater encouragement to believe and comfort to them that do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Encouragement having such an High Priest thou maist safely venture thy Soul upon him Comfort that so great a Person is thy Saviour True thou art unworthy but his Worth and Excellency is enough to preponderate and overballance all thine unworthiness He is both a King and a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek and if thou dost accept of him as thy King to rule thee thou maist safely rely and rest upon him as thine High Priest to justifie and reconcile thee to his Father Aug 15. 1667. Of the individual Personal Types that were before the Law there be four yet remaining to be spoken to You have heard of Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek how they were Types and Figures of him that was to come It remains to speak of Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph 1. Abraham As the Apostle saith of Melchizedek in other respects Heb. 7.4 so we may say of Abraham Consider how great this Man was in that so many Patriarchs so many righteous men so many Prophets Priests and Kings yea Jesus Christ himself were once in Abrahams Loyns I confess he is omitted by divers that have handled this Subject for what reason I know not unless it be from an aptness to restrain all the Types to the Person of Christ wherein perhaps they found the accommodation not so clear in respect of Abraham in whom nevertheless you will see some clearness I hope by and by even as to that though it is not always necessary in a Type that it point directly at the Messiahs Person but it is sufficient if there be an adumbration or shadowing a forth of any Gospel Truth or Mystery any way belonging to him But there were many of them shadowed forth in Abraham and the Scripture owns him for a typical Person as you will see in the particulars I shall but instance in five or six things 1. If we consider him together with Isaac and Jacob that proceeded from him we may observe that in these three persons Abraham Isaac and Jacob there is a weak and dark shadow of a very great Mystery even of those three glorious Persons God the Father Son and Spirit in the order of their Subsistence and Influences to our Salvation For Abraham was the Father and Original of both the other and in his Love to God he spared not his only Son Isaac but offered him up to Death for a Burnt-offering so God in his Love to Man spared not his only begotten Son but delivered him up for us Rom. 8.32 Isaac was sacrificed in a Figure Vide my Expos on Gen. 22. so was the Son of God the second Person of the Trinity in our Nature slain and sacrificed for us And Jacob you know came both of Abraham and Isaac and he is renowned for the Spirit of Prayer by which he had power with God and prevailed Gen. 32.28 He did not prevail by his own strength but by the Power of the Holy Ghost who did appear in him and acted him as a Spirit of Prayer and Supplication unto such invincible wrestlings with the Lord. From all which you see that there is some glimpse and shadow of the Fathers Love of the Sons Death and Sufferings and of the Spirit his breathings and workings in us Here is something of a low and weak representation of that glorious Mystery of the Trinity and the influences thereof to our eternal peace though it is but a low and weak and dark shadow of it as all Types are in comparison of the Antitype 2. If we consider Abraham with his two Wives Hagar and Sarah and their Posterities Ishmael and Isaac Here the two Covenants of Works and Grace legal and evangelical Professors are shadowed forth For this we have the Apostles Authority and the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself the best Interpreter of his own meaning Gal. 4.22 23 24. 1. The Differences and Properties of the two Covenants are here held forth Hagar by the strength of Nature hath a Child but Sarah by the Faith in the Promise Gal. 4.23 So Works and Fruits brought forth in a mans own strength these are legal if by Faith in Christ this is evangelical The first Covenant-Spirit is a Spirit of bondage Gal. 4.24 25. bondage unto sin and death the
adumbrate and shadow forth the Covenant of Works But 2. We may consider Moses under an higher notion though in respect of the external Dispensation introduced by him he shadowed forth the Law yet in other respects if we consider him in his own Person he was a Type of Christ The Scripture is clear for this also Deut. 18.15 18. A Prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto thee of thy Brethren like unto me That this was spoken of Christ see Act. 3.22 Peter there applies it unto Christ he was like unto Moses There was a Similitude but yet there was not a Parity For Christ was far above Moses Heb. 3.3 For this man was counted worthy of more Glory than Moses inasmuch as he who builded the House hath more Glory than the House and again ver 5. Moses verily was faithful as a Servant but Christ as a Son over his own House v. 6. You may see it in these particulars 1. In regard of his Birth 2. In his personal Qualifications 3. In the whole course of his Life 4. In the close of it 1. Moses was a Type of Christ in regard of his Birth in that he was born but of mean Parents in the time of Israels Bondage in Egypt Exod. 2.1 persecuted in his Infancy by Pharaoh and wonderfully preserved Exod. 2.3 9. So Christ Isai 53.2 He shall grow up as a Root out of a dry ground When the House of David was brought very low and the Glory of it seemingly extinct they were of the poorest sort of people as appears by their Offering which was but a pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons Luk. 2.24 when they taxed all the world that is when the Jews were under Bondage to the Romans Luk. 2.1 4. and you know Rome is spiritually called Egypt then and in this condition of Subjection to the Roman Power was Christ born And as soon as born he was persecuted by Herod Matth. 2. who sought his Death but wonderfully preserved and by means of his reputed Father as Moses by the Mother that adopted him both of them by wonderful Providences saved and delivered that they might be Saviours and Deliverers unto others 2. Moses was a Type of Christ in his personal Qualifications which were very eminent He was the most accomplish'd Person that ever was except Jesus Christ himself 1. In Learning and Knowledge Act. 7.22 He was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians So Christ Isai 11.1 2 3. the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and of Knowledge rested upon him to make him of quick Understanding in the Fear of the Lord insomuch that he disputed with the Doctors at twelve years of age Luke 2.42 46 47. Those Doctors were as too many are now adays eaten up with mens Traditions and ignorant of the Scripture The Jews acknowledged and admired it Joh. 7.15 And the Jews marvelled saying how knoweth this man Learning having never learned and ver 46. the Officers answered never man spake like this man 2. Clear and extraordinary Vision and Sight of God Numb 12.6 7 8. Face to Face Mouth to Mouth God spake to Moses even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord did he behold expressions arguing unparallell'd Clearness in the Lords revealing himself and his Mind to Moses There was never the like vouchsafed to any other To others even Prophets the Lord made known himself in a Vision or spake to them in Dreams ver 6. but to Moses at another rate So Christ Joh. 1.18 no man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him 3. There was in Moses an admirable mixture of Meekness and Zeal eminent in meekness of Spirit and that seasoned and tempered with holy Zeal Numb 12.3 forty years he bare their manners in the Wilderness Acts 7.36 with 13.18 though murmuring and rebelling against God and himself with an invincible Patience So Christ Matth. 11. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart When his Disciples tempted him he would not fetch down Fire from Heaven against his Despisers and Opposers yet he was angry at the Defilement of the Temple and whipt them out And so was Moses at the Golden Calf Meekness without Zeal is nothing else but Lukewarmness and Cowardise Zeal without Meekness degenerates into sinful Passion We should be meek in our own Cause but zealous in the Cause of God 4. Faithfulness to his Trust this was eminent in Moses but more eminent in Christ Heb. 3.5 6. Moses was but faithful as a Servant in his Lords House But Christ as a Son in his own House He will not lose one Soul of all those that the Father hath committed to him Joh. 6.39 40. In his last Prayer he professeth Joh. 17.12 those that thou givest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of perdition not the least Believer can or shall miscarry If thou sayst How may I know whether I was committed to the trust and care of Jesus Christ by the Father The Answer is If thou dost commit thy self to him the Lord hath done it Thou couldst never trust thy self with him thou couldst not commit thy Soul to his keeping if the Lord had not first intrusted thee with him in his eternal Counsel and Covenant of Redemption But thou hast done it and it is thy daily work therefore thou maist safely conclude with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 he will keep the thing I have committed to him He will be faithful to God and faithful to thee he never failed any that trusted in him 3. Moses was a Type of Christ in the whole course of his Life And here many things come to be considered 1. His Work and Office 2. His Sufferings and Conflicts in the Discharge thereof 3. The Lords owning and bearing witness to him by Miracles and Signs and Wonders in all which there was a manifest Prefiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ 1. In his Work and Office He was in general a Mediator between God and the People a typical Mediator All the good that God was pleased to confer upon that People it was by his Ministry and Interposition between God and then Gal. 3.19 the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Deut. 5.5 I stood between the Lord and you at that time to shew you the Word of the Lord for ye were afraid by reason of the Fire and went not up into the Mount Exod 19.7 8. So Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 9.15 and for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament But he hath the preheminence above Moses Heb. 8.6 but now hath he obtained a more excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant God was pleased to redeem his people Israel out of their Bondage in Egypt by Moses his Ministry God sent him and he left his
former Employment and Place to do this Work Exod. 3.10 Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou maist bring forth my people the Children of Israel out of Egypt But by Jesus Christ he redeemeth us out of the spiritual Bondage of Sin and Satan which is worse than Egyptian Bondage and he was sent by his Father and was content to come down from Heaven and to leave his Glory to do this great Work wherein Christ hath the preheminence For Moses was a Mediator only of temporal and typical Redemption but Christ is the Mediator of spiritual and eternal Redemption By Moses his Mediation also the Law was delivered upon Mount Sinai Gal. 3.19 it was ordained in the hand of a Mediator or a middle person that stood and transacted between God and the people Act. 7.38 who received the lively Oracles to give unto us But by Jesus Christ the Gospel is published In this respect he is the Mediator of a better Testament Moses gave the moral judicial and ceremonial Laws But Christ reveals the Gospel and Gospel-Worship Moses appoints the Passover Sacrifices builds the Tabernacle made with hands But Christ gives the Lords Supper a most lively Representation of himself and his own Death the true Sacrifice And he is himself also the true Temple and Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not Man so that Christ hath the preheminence in all things inasmuch as Gospel-worship excels Legal worship and Truth and Substance excels Figures and Shadows Lastly Moses did mediate between God and the people as an Intercessor by his Prayers and Supplications and did prevail for them for the Destruction of Amalek Exod. 17. And again when they murmured upon the evil Report of the Spies Numb 14.12 13 20 and when they made the molten Calf Exod. 32.10 11 14. then with much wrestling he prevailed with the Lord for them Psal 106.23 Moses stood in the breach So doth Christ intercede and pleads for us with the Father when we provoke him by our Sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. yea he lives for ever to intercede Heb. 7.25 2. Moses his Sufferings and Conflicts in the Discharge of his Trust and Exercise of his Office had in them a Shadow of the like to be undergone by Christ Moses fasted forty days and forty nights in the Mount So did Christ in the Wilderness He suffered many Contradictions both from his Enemies and from his Friends professed Enemies Jannes and Jambres and the Magicians of Egypt 2 Tim. 3.8 His Friends the people to whom he was sent rejected him Exod. 2.14 often murmured at him forty years he bore their manners Acts 13.18 yea his neerest friends sometimes Aaron and Miriam So Christ he was rejected of the Builders Psal 118.22 came to his own and his own received him not Joh. 1.11 His own Disciples sometimes thought his Doctrines hard sayings as when he spake against Divorces they thought a man had better never be married than submit to such a yoke and all along how weak and wayward were they But the Scribes and Pharisees like Jannes and Jambres openly resisted and opposed his Doctrine and Miracles 3. The Lords owning and bearing witness to him by Miracles Signs and Wonders Deut. 34.10 11 12. So to Jesus Christ Acts 2.22 a man approved of God among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs some note in all about five and forty of them recorded by the four Evangelists and wrought in the three years and an half of his publik Ministry viz. three in his first year nineteen in his second year and thirteen in his third year and ten in his last half year before Judas betrayed him besides those at his Death and after his Resurrection Only there were these two differences between Moses his Miracles and Christs 1. That Moses his Miracles were wrought in Christs Name but Christs Miracles were wrought in his own Name 2. That Moses his Miracles had more of Terror and Majesty Christs more of Love and Sweetness Christ seldom wrought any Mirales for the hurt of his Enemies in a way of righteous Wrath and Judgment but ordinarily only for the help both of Friends and Enemies as for instance the healing of Malchus his Ear. I remember but two Miracles wrought by Jesus Christ in a way of Wrath and Punishment against his Enemies the suffering the Devil to enter into the Gadarenes Swine and causing his Enemies to fall backward when they came to apprehend him All the rest were Miracles of Mercy and Kindness But by the Hand of Moses there were no less than ten miraculous Plagues upon Egypt There were Thunderings and Lightnings at Mount Sinai The Earth opened her mouth upon Corah Dathan and Abiram and swallowed them up quick with other such dreadful and terrible things in righteousness The reason of this difference was because Moses was the Minister of the Law which is a voice of Words and Terror and Fear and genders unto Bondage but Jesus Christ is the Minister and Author of the Gospel which is Grace and Peace Therefore these two different kinds of Dispensations were attested with two different kinds of Miracles But as to the general the working of Miracles by Moses and so being owned by the Lord and born witness to by him herein there was a resemblance and prefiguration of what was done by Jesus Christ 4. And lastly Moses was a Type of Christ in the end and close of his Life viz. in his Death Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven He dyed willingly he went up to Mount Nebo which was a part of Mount Abarim and there surrendred up his Soul So Christ No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self no man taketh it from me see Joh. 10.18 I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again He went to Mount Golgotha and there gave up his Soul to his Father Moses after his Death and Burial rose again buried he was Deut. 34.6 and that he rose again and ascended into Heaven may be gathered from Matth. 17. For he did appear and talk with Christ at his Transfiguration together with Elias So you know Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven Thus Moses was a Type of Christ all along In his Birth in his personal Qualifications in the whole course of his Life his Office his Sufferings his Miracles and finally in his Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven But yet though there was such a full analogy and so great a resemblance between them yet there was a disparity Christ having the preheminence above Moses Heb. 3.5 6. Moses was faithful as a Servant in his Lords House but Christ as a Son in his own House Thus much as to Moses Now for Joshuah his Successor That he was a Type appears because Christ was called by that name in the Hebrew And Joshuah is called Jesus in the Greek in the New Testament Acts 7.45 Heb. 4.8 that is a Saviour though he be but
here how glorious is the Messiah of whom all these were but weak and dark Umbrages He is indeed the chiefest of ten thousands Cant. 5. Vse 2. Look whatever Glory was in any of these Persons by way of Prefiguration of Jesus Christ it is and should be found in every Believer by way of Participation from Christ and Imitation of him Therefore in these Examples we see our own Duty in their Attainments we see what should be our Endeavours our Endeavours did I say I may say also through Grace our Attainments For tho it is true we are not yet perfect neither have we already attained yet there is a time coming when thou and I if we be true Believers shall be more holy than ever Elijah or Elisha were in the days of their pilgrimage here below when we shall serve God better than Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah did when they restored and rebuilt his Temple namely when we come to Heaven Then there is not the least Saint but is more holy than ever the most eminent Saint was here upon Earth For the best of them had a Body of Sin and Death in them but in Heaven there shall be no Sin at all For as these eminent Persons had a typical relation unto Christ so every true Believer hath a mystical Union and Communion with him and by virtue thereof they do partake of his Spirit and Glory So that as we have here a motive unto what we ought to do so we have also Encouragement and Comfort as to what we shall attain We shall attain it then when Jesus Christ shall present all his Members to his Father blameless and spotless and faultless Ephes 5.26 27. Jude 24. before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy Who is the Type or Figure of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 Sept. 26. 1667 THe personal Types of Christ have been referred unto two sorts 1. Individual Persons 2. Religious Orders or whole ranks and kinds of typical Persons The former have been spoken to we shall now proceed to the latter and so finish the Text. The difference between individual Types and religious Orders or kinds and ranks of typical Persons lies chiefly in this That no wicked man could be an individual Type of Christ but he may be involved in a religious Order of Types For the Order is holy though the Man be wicked And here it is not directly the Person but rather indeed the Order that is the Type and the Person as involved and invested in such an Order Quest What were these typical Orders and Ranks of Men Answ I shall instance only in these six 1. That whole Nation and People of Israel 2. The First-born of that Nation 3. Their Nazarites 4. Their Prophets 5. Their Priests 6. Their Kings 1. The whole Nation of the Jews they were a typical People their Church-state being very ceremonial and peculiar to those legal times and therefore now ceased and abolished and did adumbrate and shadow forth two things 1. Christ himself hence Christ is called Israel Isai 49.3 By Israel is meant Christ and all the Faithful as the Members of him their Head 2. They were a Type of the Church of God under the New Testament Hence the Church is called Israel Gal. 6.16 and Rev. 7. The twelve Tribes of Israel are numbred up by Name to shew forth the Lords particular Care of every one of his People in particular That place is not meant properly of old Israel because it relates to the times of the Antichristian Locusts Compare cap. 7. with cap. 9.4 the Analogy lies in this That they were a peculiar people to the Lord chosen and singled out by him from all the world So is Christ the Lords chosen Behold my Servant whom I have chosen mine elect in whom my Soul delighteth So are all the Saints 1 Pet. 2.9 A royal Nation a peculiar People gathered from among all Nations Rev. 5.9 Hence the Enemies of Israel were typical Enemies as Egypt and Babylon under the Old Testament Types of Antichristian Enemies under the New and the Providences of God towards that People of old Types and Shadows of his intended future Dispensations towards his People under the New as you will see further when we come to speak of typical Providences 2. The First-born of that Nation were also a typical sort of persons therefore Esau in despising his Birthright despised a spiritual Priviledge and therefore justly called a profane person Heb. 12.16 And they also typified Christ and the Church Christ For he is the First-born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 The Church And thence the same Name and Title is given to all the Saints Heb. 12.23 The general Assembly and Church of the First-born The Analogy appears chiefly in two things 1. In regard of the Lords special Interest and Propriety in them 2. In regard of their Preheminence and Dignity above others 1. The Lords Propriety in them as his in a special and peculiar manner The First-born are mine Because he had redeemed them when the First-born of Egypt were destroyed Exod. 13.2 So Christ hath a special relation to God as his first begotten yea his only begotten Son his Son by Nature we are Sons only by Adoption and Grace Primogenitus ante quem nullus unigenitus post quem nullus Joh. 1.14 So the Saints The Lord hath a special relation and propriety in them all manner of ways by Creation by Redemption by Regeneration by his own choice of them by their consent and choice of him c. 2. In regard of their Dignity and Preheminence above others The First-born had many Priviledges above his Brethren he was as it were the second Father of the Family So Christ Isai 9.6 is called the everlasting Father He had the Honour and the Government the Priesthood was his and a double portion of the Estate Deut. 21.17 The First-born at first had the Priesthood Exod. 24.5 Young men sacrificed Afterward Levi was set apart instead of the First-born Numb 8. Therefore Reuben left the Government to Judah the Priesthood to Levi the double Portion to Joseph who was divided into two Tribes Ephrahim and Manasseh So Christ has the Honour above all Creatures Heb. 1.6 Let all the Angels of God worship him And the Saints which are the Lords First-born in a secondary way are honourable persons as being Members of Christ they are precious in his sight and honourable therefore he says I will give Nations and Princes for thy Life Isai 43.3 4. 3. Their Nazarites the Institution of their religious Order with all the Rules and Observations belonging to it you have in the 6th chapter of Numbers It was an Order of much esteem amongst the People of God in those times and is reckoned as a great Honour and Glory to that People Amos 2.11 I raised of your Sons for Prophets and of your Young men for Nazarites Her Nazarites Lam. 4.7 were whiter than Snow There were two degrees of it either for
all James 2.10 and so needs Christ and his Blood to make atonement even for the least Sins and those which are in some sort involuntary as the original corruption of Nature is and many actual Sins of meer infirmity and frailty 2. Sacrifices of Atonement even when they had fulfilled their Vow ver 13 to 21. It taught the secret and unseen Guiltiness which cleaveth to the most holy men in their best and most perfect works which without atonement by the Blood of Christ Ainsworth in loc cannot be pure and pleasing in the sight of God For though a man know nothing by himself yet is he not thereby justified 1 Cor. 4.4 When we have kept our Vows and done our Duty yet we need Atonement and Pardon 4. A fourth religious Order amongst them of old was their Prophets These also were Types of Christ and Christians Of Christ For as they taught the will of God so doth Christ For he is the great Prophet Deut 18.15 Acts 3.22 Joh. 1.18 no man knows the Father but he to whom the Son revealeth him Matth 11.27 But though there be a resemblance and analogy yet there is also a great disparity in this Type For all the Types as hath been often observed fell short of the Antitype in Glory and so in this for none teacheth like him Job 36.22 in regard of the Authority and Efficacy of his teaching 1. The Authority For the Prophets speak in the Lords Name Thus saith the Lord but Christ in his own Name and the Fathers as a Son over his own House Heb. 3.6 2. The Efficacy All the Prophets could not reach the Heart but Christ he teacheth inwardly and effectually for he sends his Spirit to bring the Truths to remembrance with power and efficacy Joh. 14.26 And as their Prophets were Types of Christ so likewise of all Believers for they are spiritually Prophets 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Cor. 2.15 the spiritual man judgeth all things They are said to prophesie as the Lords Witnesses Rev. 11. 5. A fifth religious Order in those legal times was that of Priesthood Their Priests and especially their High Priests were Types of Christ and Christians Therefore Christ is so often called a Priest and the High Priest Heb. 3.1 of our Profession The Analogy between Christ and them appears chiefly in two things 1. That as they offered Sacrifice and by Sacrifice made atonement so Christ Ephes 5.2 gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling favour 2. There was in them the shadow though but the shadow of an everlasting Priesthood because the Office was settled in the House and Family of Aaron and so though the persons died yet the Office was never vacant for the Son succeeded the Father and was sometimes invested during the Fathers life as Eleazer Numb 20.26 And though Melchizedeks Priesthood was of an higher Order and more illustrious than that of Aaron as the Apostle shews Heb. 7. yet in this also there was but a shadow of Eternity as hath been formerly shewed But Christ is indeed a Priest for ever he is often so called in the Epistle to the Hebrews He was made a Priest not after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the Power of everlasting life Heb. 7. The Disparity between Christ and these typical Priests was manifold I shall instance in a few particulars 1. Theirs was but the shadow Christ the true Sacrifice and true Reconciliation with God 2. They offered Sacrifice first for their own Sins but Christ had no Sins of his own to offer for and to make satisfaction for Heb. 7.27 3. All those Priests of old even Melchizedek himself they were but Priests they were not both Priest Altar and Sacrifice But Christ is all three He is Priest as God-man He is the Altar in regard of his Divine nature for this is that that sanctifies the Gift and makes the Sacrifice so infinitely efficacious and meritorious And Christ himself is also the Sacrifice in regard of his Humane nature His Humane nature suffered death and so was offered up as a Sacrifice unto God for us Thus in all things Christ hath the Preheminence I might also shew how all the Saints are Priests He hath made us Kings and Priests unto our God Revel 1. But there will be occasion to speak further of the Priesthood when we come to the Temple and the Temple Ministry 6. A sixth religious Order was their Kings of the House of David It is true Magistracy is a civil Ordinance belonging to the second Table But yet as God was pleased to annex a typical respect unto the Sabbath which is in it self a moral Duty and unto Adams Marriage with Eve which was a civil Relation so he did unto Magistracy or Kingship as stated and settled amongst that people Hence as in the business of Marriage and of the Sabbath the things themselves are not abolished but only the typical respects are taken off so here Kingship as amongst them was both a civil and a religious Order Non dubium est quin caelestis pater in Davide ejusque posteris conspici voluerit vivam Christi Imaginem Calvin Institut l. 2. cap. 6. sect 2. cap. 7. sect 2. See the Analogy in three things 1. In their Inauguration they were anointed with holy Oil Psal 89.20 with mine holy Oil have I anointed him This typified the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit the Spirit of Government Acts 10.38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost which Christ received above his Fellows Psal 45.7 not by measure but above measure Joh. 3.34 2. The Lord settled the Kingdom by an everlasting Covenant in a perpetual Series and Succession of persons in the House of David So with Christ he hath made an everlasting Covenant that his Kingdom shall endure for ever Isai 9.7 of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end 3. The moral work and duty of their Office had also a typical use to shadow forth what Christ doth spiritually in and for his Church 1. They made Laws for the people of Israel though they did it still in subordination to and pursuance of the Laws of God as all Magistrates ought to do not in opposition to them So Christ is the Law-giver of his Church Isai 33.22 the Lord is our Judge our King our Law-giver 2. They subdued the Enemies of Israel so did David the Philistines the Moabites c. So doth Christ subdue and tread down the Churches Enemies 3. It was their work to execute Vengeance upon Rebels as Solomon the peaceful King did on Joab Adonijah Shimei So doth Christ the Prince of Peace on Unbelievers and Hypocrites in the Church This King will say Bring forth these mine Enemies and slay them before my face Yet there was a great Disparity between Christ and those Kings His Kingdom is spiritual his Government infinitely better than theirs was 2 Sam. 23.4 5. some understand and render to this
shall bite them and upon occasion of their ungrateful murmurings against the Manna Numb 21.5 The Instruction we may learn and see in it is this That God le ts loose those fiery Serpents Satan and their Lusts to sting the Consciences and torment the Souls of Men for contempt of Christ and Gospel mercies When Manna hath been slighted when Christ is offered and rejected then the Serpent stings Psal 81.11 12. Because Israel would none of me therefore I gave them up to their own hearts lusts Have you never felt the truth of this Type by woful experience how sin hath raged and gotten more strength when the Gospel hath been slighted and offers of Grace despised So much of the Disease the deadly sting of these fiery Serpents for their murmurings Now 2. for the Remedy The Brazen Serpent That Christ is this Brazen Serpent himself declares Joh. 3. 1. It was made of Brass and in the shape and form of a Serpent yet not a real Serpent It was not made of Gold but only of Brass which though it be a strong and bright Mettal yet was contemptible in outward appearance and most unlikely to have attained such an end to work such a cure So is Christ strong and mighty and bright and glorious Rev. 1.15 16. The brightness of his Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 Yet a man and the Son of man Therefore low and mean in his outward appearance and despised of the world Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that are saved the wisdom of God and the power of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Yea he condescended to appear in the similitude of sinful flesh for so the Apostle most accurately expresseth it Rom. 8.3 He was counted a sinner but he was indeed without sin Heb. 4.15 As this brazen Serpent was like a Serpent yet had neither Venom nor Sting so Christ appeared like a sinner He came in the likeness of sinful flesh and yet knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 But though he was not sinful yet he was indeed under the curse due to sin as the Serpent was cursed Gen. 3. So Christ became a curse for us Gal. 3.13 2. This brazen Serpent was a Remedy and a Cure provided of God in meer Grace and sovereign Mercy for ungrateful and unworthy Rebels when some of them were stung to death and ready to perish for their contempt of Manna and others of them were dead and gone and past recovery for the same sin It was against the merit of their murmurings when they spake against him and against Moses in like manner doth God give his Son Jesus Christ of free and meer grace when we were enemies without and against our merit when so great a part of mankind perisheth without him in their own rebellions and especially for their contempt of the Gospel Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world it was a most intense love to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have eternal life 3. The Serpent must be lifted up upon a Pole Numb 21. That all Israel might see it whether near or further off so Christ was lifted up Joh. 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that is upon the Cross Joh. 12.32 33. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me This he spake signifying what death he should die And in the preaching of the Gospel in the sight of all men Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Both to those that are near and farr of Ephes 2.17 4. This brazen Serpent must be also looked upon by the Israelites when stung Numb 21.8 So must Christ by the eye of Faith Joh. 3.15 Faith is often expressed unto us by that Metaphor of looking Look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 Isa 65.1 I said behold me behold me Faith looks with a fixed eye and with a mourning eye A mans Spirit is much seen and doth much discover it self by his eye 5. In this way it gave healing unto those that being stung did look upon it whom nothing else could heal Moses and his Law could not do it Numb 21.8 So Christ Mal. 4.2 Vnto you that fear my Name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings Psal 103 who healeth all thy diseases And none but he can do it Act. 4.12 There is no healing of a wounded Conscience but by Jesus Christ alone as lifted up upon the Cross and beheld by the eye of Faith The brazen Serpents being lifted up was not enough but it must be looked upon so Christ must be believed on or else the soul cannot be healed Ignorant Souls that see not Christ or that despise him shall not be saved by him as if any of the people had said what virtue can there be in such a brazen Serpent to health and so would not look up to it Such they deservedly perish so do Unbelievers and Despisers under the Gospel Though they were but weak and dim-eyed blear-eyed dim-sighted c. yet looking up to the brazen Serpent they were healed so though Faith be weak yet being sincere it saveth Though in the utmost parts of the Camp some say it took up twelve myles Yet look unto me all the ends of the earth and be saved Isa 45.22 6. The brazen Serpent retained this virtue only while instituted by God for that end and therefore when the sacred Stamp of Institution was taken off we read no more of any Miracles wrought by it and Hezekiah brake it in pieces 2. Kings 18.4 Now this part of the History cannot be fitly accommodated to Christ himself but to his Ordinances thus That the very same things and actions which are good and useful when God appoints them are useless yea abominable if there be no stamp of Institution upon them Thus we may fitly apply it because the Types as hath been said relate to all Gospel Truths and the same Truth shines forth in all the rest of those ancient Types and Shadows The Lord then appointed ministring Garments for his Priests and Ministers but for Ministers to use sacred Vestments now is unlawful and abominable The Lord then appointed a kind of legal Hierarchy and spiritual Supremacy of the High Priest over all the rest of the Priests and Levites they were to act by the appointment of Aaron and his Sons Numb 4.19 But for one Gospel Minister to claim a supremacy of Jurisdiction over another Gospel Minister within his own Charge or Congregation This is that for which we justly call the Pope Antichrist The Lord then appointed the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover and Pentecost But for us to keep these Feasts now under the names of Christmas Easter or Whitsuntide or the like as the Pope hath taught us to do it is a farr
I shall prove each Particular out of plain Scripture 1. That great Seed that was not only the Seed of the Woman but the Son of God this was the first and chief Seed here intended Gal 3.16 He saith not as to Seeds but to thy Seed which is Christ such a Seed in whom all Nations are blessed Now it is in Christ only that all Nations are blessed therefore he was this promised Seed The Lord had not before limited the Seed Messiah to any particular Family but left it at large so far as appears among the whole Race of Mankind It was said to Adam the Seed of the Woman there was then no further limitation till Noahs time and then in Abrahams time the Lord limits the Covenant to his Seed It was afterwards confined to Judah one of the twelve Tribes at last the Lord went further to one Family in Judah namely Davids but here he limits it to Abraham that of him should come that great and blessed Seed This was the main thing indeed as without which all other Promises could never be bestowed and fulfilled but through him they are Yea and Amen Abraham saw my day and rejoyced he saw the Messias was to come of his Loyns this was the Seed in whom he believed and by which he was saved 2. There was a Church-seed promised the meaning is this That the Church of God should be continued in his Race and Posterity the true Religion should be setled there There were other godly persons before and after we read of Melchisedech and Job and his Friends and it is very like there might be others and when God had setled Salvation to Abraham it was the duty of all others to joyn themselves to that Church The Lord entailed by Covenant all his Ordinances to Abraham and his Posterity He gave them his Statutes and Judgments he chose them to be a peculiar People a People to the Lord and that is a Church a Society intrusted and invested with the Ordinances and thus he dealt with them he shewed his Statutes to Israel this is no small priviledge and mercy to enjoy the Ordinances this is called the Kingdom of God This Christ threatned the Jews that it should be taken from them and given to other people Mat. 21.43 that is God would settle his Church among the Gentiles and give them his Ordinances And that this is a Priviledge we see by that expression of the Apostle to the Ephesians wherein he mentions it as a part of the dreadful misery of the Ephesians that they were Aliens to the Common Wealth of Israel 3. There was a third thing intended and that is a believing Seed such as should be truly Godly and of this the Apostle speaks in Gal. 3.7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith are the Seed of Abraham so that all true Believers are his Seed in that sense He is called the Father of the Faithful all Believers are his Posterity There were Multitudes that were truly Godly of Abrahams Seed and all that are Godly are his Seed they walk in his steps they are the Seed of the Covenant they are spiritually related to him He was the Pattern and typical Head of that Covenant in which we do all believe the Pattern of Faith to us He is called our Father It is said of him that he believed against sense and reason this was not writen for his sake alone but for us also that we might follow his steps 4. There was included in this Covenant an ingrafted Seed it is the Apostles expression in Rom. 11.17 I mean a Seed not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles God did not only engage to Abraham that there should be Church of his own natural Seed and that there should be Saints of his natural Seed but that the Gentiles should be ingrafted into his Covenant and so become his Seed Thou being a wild Olive Tree wert grafted in among them and partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree God did above and beyond the ordinary course of things ingraft the Gentiles into that Covenant that he had once made with Abraham And thus you see what the Seed is which the Lord did promise in the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the Seal He did promise to give to Abraham that Seed firstly and chiefly that Seed who was the Son of God and a Church Seed and a believing Seed and not only a Seed of the Nation of the Jews but a Seed ingrafted into that Grace and Covenant from among the Gentiles We have gone through two Branches of the Covenant the third is this 3. That God would give an Inheritance to him and them this was the third part of Gods Covenant with him It is the greatest desire in nature to have Children and it is a good desire it is of God And what do Parents desire next a comfortable Inheritance for them and this did the Lord promise to Abraham And in that Text which hath been so often alledged God first promises to make him exceeding Fruitful and then I will give to thee and thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art yet a Stranger The Lord promised an Inheritance and that Inheritance was the Land of Canaan Now the Question is whether this was a temporal or spiritual Inheritance Doubtless the Lord did not promise to Abraham Canaan meerly as a temporal Inheritance but as a spiritual Inheritance Canaan was not as other Lands are a meer outward thing but it was a typical Land it was the Land of Emmanuel it is the Land of Glory Canaan was a Type of Heaven and in that respect it was that they did so earnestly prize it and look upon it as being Heaven in an earthly Shadow therefore Jacob and Joseph must needs be buried there therefore the Apostle assures us they did seek a better Country they professed themselves Strangers and Pilgrims here upon Earth They that say such things declare plainly they seek another Country which is an heavenly one wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God It is a heavenly City whose Builder and Maker is God so that under that Shadow the Lord did promise Heaven to Abraham and this was the third part of this Covenant This Land of Canaan is called the Mountain of Holiness what expression can be higher Dan. 11. and therefore the Saints did look beyond that to another Country You see what the Covenant was and what were the principal things and Branches of it That God should be his God that God should give him a Seed and that God should give an Inheritance to him and them You see what the Covenant is that Circumcision doth relate to Now the last thing that was propounded was this what respect it is that Circumcision hath to this Covenant He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision For this Note these five things 1. Circumcision respects the Covenant as the Seal or Sacrament of Initiation into the Covenant The reason of
rather two Burnt-Offerings the one in the morning and the other at evening Exod. 29.38 42. Numb 28.3 4. called the Juge sacrificium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof Daniel speaks how it was profanely interrupted by Antiochus Dan. 8.11 12. The end of it as of the rest was atonement reconciliation and remission of sin Vers 9. a Savour of Rest or a sweet Savour For as a sweet smell refresheth and quieteth the Senses so Christs Oblation appeaseth Gods Spirit Ainsw in loc Hence is that Phrase Ezra 6.9 10. Sacrifices of Rest or of sweet Savours to the God of Heaven so Ephes 5.2 Christ gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour The Laws and Ordinances of the Burnt-Offering were either concerning the matter of it or the actions to be performed about it which being different according to the different matter of it will come in under the several sorts of matter whereof the Sacrifice was to consist which was in general clean Creatures This Rule was to be observed in all the Sacrifices and it was very ancient for we read of this distinction of Beasts into clean and unclean even in Noahs time Gen. 7.2 and Gen. 8.20 There were two sorts of cleannesses of the irrational Creatures clean for Sacrifice and clean for Food Of the cleanness for Food we read in Lev. 11. which seems to have been then first appointed for to the Sons of Noah there is no such restriction given but a large and general Commission to eat any wholesome Flesh Gen. 9.3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be Meat for you But the cleanness and uncleanness for Sacrifice seems to have been from the very first Institution of Sacrifices The Rule whereof in general is this that there were no wild Beasts or Fowls no ravenous carnivorous Beasts or Birds of prey allowed in Sacrifices but such as were of the milder sort The reason whereof is thought to be partly from their Properties being more harmless and innocent more useful and profitable and serviceable Creatures to mans use and so fittest to signifie the like things in Christ and in his people and partly because of mans peculiar possession and propriety in them being more fully in his power and possession than the wild Beasts of the Field Or if no reason for it could be assigned we must acquiesce in the supreme Authority of God so ordaining and appointing as why not a Hen as well as a young Pidgeon How abominable it was to transgress in the matter of their Sacrifices you may see by those expressions in Isai 66.3 He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines blood In all which the Lord expresseth the greatest detestation by those Resemblances and Comparisons But in this the Heathen greatly corrupted themselves for as they forgat and lost the true Object of Worship offering their Sacrifices to Devils and not unto God 1 Cor. 10.20 So they sacrificed all sorts of Creatures without any difference of clean or unclean even Swine wherein the Jews also did corrupt themselves at least so far as to the eating of it as appears out of Isai 65.4 yea they proceeded so far as to Sacrifice men their Sons and Daughters an horrible thing which the Lord commanded not and which never came into his heart Jer. 7.31 For as it was not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin so neither could the blood of man do it but only of that man who is God also Act. 20.28 The matter of the Burnt-Offering which was approved and appointed of God was of three sorts Of the Herd that is the bigger sort of Cattel and of the Flocks that is the lesser sort of Cattel and of the Fowls and so this Chapter divides it self into these three parts 1. The Burnt-Offering of the Herd to vers 10. 2. The Burnt-Offering of the Flock vers 10. to vers 14. 3. The Burnt-Offering of Fowls vers 14. to the end 1. The Burnt-Offering of the Herd we may here consider the matter of it and the Actions to be performed about it 1. The matter of the Offering is a Bullock a Male without blemish vers 3. see this Law repeated and confirmed Lev. 22.20 to 24. see Mal. 1.7 8 14. And being so vehemently insisted on we may well think it is not without some special mystery the Best and most Perfect is fittest for so great a God Moreover this did also figure and represent Jesus Christ his perfection in himself and ours in him He was a Male and without spot or blemish 1 Pet. 1.19 a Sacrifice of absolute purity and perfection And the like expressions are used concerning Christ mystical in Ephes 5.27 without spot or wrinkle or any such thing holy and without blemish we shall be so perfectly at that day And in this life in some degree there is a perfection of sincerity here there is a blameless spotless Conversation As the Burnt-Offerings of old so should we and all our Sacrifices and Offerings to the Lord be We should serve him with the best we have the best of our time and strength the vigor of our spirits the utmost improvement of all our abilities in his Service and to his Glory we should sacrifice all to him 2. The actions to be performed about it for the Lord was pleased to ordain and appoint sundry mystical and significant Rites and Ceremonies to be used about the Burnt-Offering which were full of Teaching and spiritual Mystery For what hath been vainly and falsly boasted and arrogated to religious Ceremonies of mens devising it is most true concerning these divine Ceremonies That they be neither dark nor dumb but mystical and significant and fit to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his Duty toward God by some special and notable signification whereby he may be edified I shall enumerate them with some short hints of Instruction from them in nine Particulars as they lie before us in the Text which mentions at least nine ceremonial Actions about the Burnt-Offering 1. The Offerer was to bring it to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the Lord. 2. Lay his hand upon it 3. The Priest must kill it 4. He must pour out the Blood and sprinkle it round about 5. Flay and cut it in pieces 6. The Pieces to be salted 7. The Leggs and Inwards washed 8. All must be laid upon the Altar and burnt with Fire And 9. The Ashes carried out of the Camp into a clean place 1. The Offerer was to bring it to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the face of the Lord. vers 3. Great weight is laid upon this Lev. 17.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and 9. We may learn three or four things out of this 1. Here was a voluntary act of the Offerer for
〈◊〉 flayed and cut up Heb. 4.12 13. so all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before him with whom we have to do The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God searcheth the heart as the sacrificeing Knife did the bowels of the Beast there is no Skin no cloke of Hypocrisy that can hide thee from the Lord. 4. The Skin of the Sacrifice went to the Priest it was part of his Maintenance see Cap. 7. 8. and the Priest that offereth any mans Burnt Offering even the Priest shall have to himself the Skin of the Burnt Offering which he hath offered As before the Law the Sacrificer had the Skin he enjoyed the benefit of that either to cloth him as Adam and Eve Gen. 3.21 the Lord God made them Coats of Skins and clothed them Or to buy cloathing with or what else he needed And under the Law there was hardly any Sacrifice of which the Priest had not his part It teacheth us that they that serve at the Altar should live of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. from whence the Apostle argues to the care that should be taken for the maintainance of Ministers under the Gospel So much for the fifth Ceremony about the Burnt-Offering namely the flaying it and cuting it in pieces 6. The Pieces were to be salted This indeed is not expressed in Cap 1. but you will find it in other places for as I said at first we must borrow Light from other Scriptures Lev. 2.13 Every Oblation of thy Meat-Offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking Ezek. 43.24 the Priests shall cast Salt upon them The Rule is general to all Sacrifices as well Burnt as Meat-Offerings Mark 9.49 every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt I find by conference with other Scriptures a twofold Mystery hinted and aimed at in this 1. Salt doth preserve things and keep them from putrifaction this therefore signifies and shadows forth the Perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace Hence is that emphatical expression in the Text Lev. 2.13 the Salt of the Covenant of thy God So Salt is used Numb 18.19 It is a Covenant of Salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy Seed with thee that is saith the Margin sure stable and incorruptible So 2 Chron. 13.5 Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is Perpetual because the thing that is salted is preserved from Corruption saith the Geneva Note upon the place 2. Salt makes things savoury and wholesome which without Salt would stink and putrify Col. 4.6 let your Speech be seasoned with Salt That is contrary to that corrupt Communication Ephes 4.29 wise and savoury and gracious Speech Mark 9.49 50. when there is no Salt no Savour in a mans words his Speech stinks and is corrupt the Sacrifice is unsalted and so it stinks 7. The Leggs and Inwards must be washed Vers 12. the Feet and the Inwards are the fowlest part of a Beast washing away the filth signifies spiritual washing and cleansing So the bodies of Believers are said to be washed with pure Water and their hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 they are made clean both within and without and their filthiness washt away through Jesus Christ 8. The several parts of the Offering must be laid upon the Altar and burnt with Fire till it be consumed and burnt to ashes Seeing the Fire which once fell from Heaven Lev. 9.24 was to be continually kept and preserved upon the Altar Lev. 6.12 and the use of all other Fire forbidden in Sacrifices Lev. 10.1 putting of Fire upon the Altar in this place can signifie nothing but kindling of it Deodat in Lev. 1.7 See Lev. 6.9 the Fire burnt all night The Wrath of God is the Fire and Sin the Wood or Fuel that feeds it This is the Fire of the Justice and Wrath of God from Heaven which seized upon Christ and every part of him as all the parts of the Offering was burnt his Head crowned with Thornes his Side pierced with the Spear his Hands and Feet with Nails his whole body did sweat drops of Blood yea his Soul was heavy unto the Death yea burnt to Ashes as it were brought to the utmost extremity of misery his Saints also endure the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 Though theirs is not a fire of Expiation as Christs was Heb. 12.10 but only a fire of Purgation which they pass through in this Life to prepare and fit them for Heaven but after this Life there is no Purgatory as the Papists dream 9. The Ashes must be carried out of the Camp into a clean place Lev. 6.10 11. The contrary is said of the Rubbish of a leprous house that the dust and stones thereof should be poured forth into an unclean place Lev. 14.40 41. For they came from a polluted house But these from the Lords holy dwelling place and were the Reliques of an holy thing which the Lord here manifests that he hath a special regard of This Ceremony is applied by the Apostle to Christ Heb. 13.11 12 13. Look as the Ashes of the Sacrifice being burnt signified the dead Body of Christ so the carrying of the Ashes out of the Camp signified how his crucified Body should not be buried within the City but carried into a clean place into a new Sepulchre where never any man lay before Joh. 19.41 So the dead Bodies of all his Saints when they are spent and consumed to Ashes they are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred Reliques and he will raise them up again unto eternal Life So much for the Burnt Offering of the Herd and the Ceremonies appertaining to it There were also some other Actions about it as that in Psal 118.27 of binding the Sacrifice with Cords even unto the Horns of the Altar But this as it is not mentioned in this Chapter so it seems rather to be an Action of natural necessity unto such a work as the slaying of a Beast then to have any special mystery in it Therefore let this suffice for the Burnt-Offering of the greater sort of Cattel Now the other two sorts that follow are the Burnt-Offering of the Flock that is lesser Cattel Sheep or Goats vers 10. And of Fowls viz. Turtle Doves and young Pigeons vers 14. Quest Why the Lord appointed these lesser Sacrifices Ans He did it that so none might be able to plead excuse to be exempted from his service for you know men are very apt to make excuses If the Lord had only appointed Oxen and Sheep some might have pretended Poverty and have said we would offer Sacrifice but we are not able Therefore these lesser Sacrifices were ordained that so both Rich and Poor might serve the Lord so that here is no room
like a Shift on the top of his Cloths to signifie Purity and Holiness a man must bow down like a fool to a thing made of Wood or Stone call it a Crucifix or an Altar or what you please to signifie I know not what unless it be that they are Imps of Antichrist and in heart members of his pretended Monarchy that do such things But I hope you see that it is not thus with Gods Ceremonies If the Lord open our eyes we may see wondrous things out of his Law Psal 119.18 I suppose the things that have been spoken may not have the same Light and Evidence with all that have heard me this day as I hope through grace they have with some but yet I hope there is Light enough even to the weakest to see and to discern a difference between Gods Wisdom and mans folly between divine Ceremonies in Religion and such as are meerly humane Humane Inventions are teaching Signs but they are Teachers of lyes Hab. 2.18 But Gods Institutions teach Gospel Truths Not to mention all the other evils of them our Consciences are the Throne of God But will they needs reign in our Consciences and so sit down in the Throne of God and pluck the Scepter as it were out of Christs hand and the Crown from his Head He will speak to them in his Wrath for this and vex them in his sore displeasure he will break them with his Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Vse 2. See the fierceness of the Wrath of God against sin and it may be a word of awakening to secure sinners It is nothing but death and blood and slaughter that will appease offended Justice God must and will have a Sacrifice and the Sacrifice must be slain and burnt with fire Our God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12. ult If thou hast not a Burnt-Offering to present him with to be slain and sacrificed for thee thou must perish It is not enough to see the power and bondage of sin but thou must see thy self under Guilt and that there is a necessity of a Sacrifice to expiate thy sins and make atonement if ever thou art saved You need Christ for your Justification to be your Righteousness as well as to be your Sanctification If there be no sense of this if you go on resisting and despising such Convictions if you live so and dye so thou art the man the woman against whom the Lord hath Indignation for ever and thy sin will not be purged with Sacrifice nor Offering for ever as the Lord said of Elie's Sons 1 Sam. 3.14 Vse 3. Direction under the guilt of sin what to do and what course to take to make atonement and reconciliation between God and thee go and bring your Sacrifice to the Priest and by him unto God Jesus Christ is both the Sacrifice and the Priest and the Altar he is all in all go with him into the presence of God and present him to the Lord by Faith and this Sacrifice that he hath offered shall be accepted for thee to make atonement for thee for thy sin whatever it be and it shall be forgiven thee Vse 4. Unspeakable consolation unto them who have took this course and have fled for Refuge thither here is peace and comfort under the guilt of sin of what kind soever Two things may quiet any mans Conscience under the greatest Guilt 1. Is there not a sufficient Sacrifice Is there not satisfaction and atonement in the blood of Christ Is not this a sufficient Sacrifice 2. Is it not thine This I know unbelief is apt to stagger at But therefore do but lay thy hand upon the head of the Sacrifice confess thy sins over the head of thy Burnt-Offering lay thy Burthens upon him by Faith and he is thine and all that he hath done and suffered was for thee and shall be as effectual for thy good as available and effectual with the Lord for thee as if thou thy self hadst suffered yea infinitely more See vers 4. He shall put his hand upon the head of the Burnt Offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him The Apostle saith we have received the atonement Rom. 5.11 and he insists upon this notion of receiving Vers 17. receive abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness Now this is done by Faith and what is the effect of this Therefore we joy in God vers 11. and 17. We reign in life through one Jesus Christ It puts the Soul into a triumphing frame THE GOSPEL OF THE MEAT-OFFERING July 5 12 19. 1668. Levit. Cap. 2. 2. The Mincha or Meat-Offering THis is mentioned in the second place in that Enumeration of the Legal-Offerings Lev. 7.37 and treated of in the second Chapter of this Book next after the Burnt-Offering and therefore comes now to be spoken of out of this Chapter with help and conference of other Scriptures It is called in Hebrew Mincha concerning the notation or etymology of which word which may give some light to the sense of it there be divers Conjectures Some derive it from Nachah to bring or Offer hence Mincha munus in like manner as Mizvoh praeceptum from Zivah praecepit And though the Rabbins read the Plural Number Menachoth whence some derive it from a feigned Root Manach that so Mem may be a radical letter yet the Plural Number is read Minchoth in Psal 20.3 It is used in Scripture in three senses 1. It is often used generally for any thing gift or Present whether to God or men which confirms the Etymology before given as Gen. 32.13 20 Gen. 43.11 1 Sam. 10.27 2. It is used not only for Gifts or Presents to men but for all sorts of Offerings to God even such Sacrifices wherein Beasts were slain as Gen. 4.4 where Abels Sacrifice of the Firstlings of his Flock is called his Mincha so it agrees with Qorban and is of as large extent in signification 3. It is frequently used in a narrower sense for an Offering of the Fruits of the Earth as contra distinguished unto Sacrifices of living creatures So Qorban is the general and Mincha a species of Qorban so in this place Lev. 2. Qorban Mincha and in many other Scriptures All propitiatory Sacrifices being referred in Scripture unto these two Heads Zebach and Mincha as Dan. 9.6 Psal 40.6 which the Apostle renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.5 that is slain Sacrifices of living Creatures which were offered both by Fire and Slaughter which are called Zebach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hostia victima sacrificium mactatum and Offerings of Meat and Drink called Mincha munus sacrum frumentaceum libum libamen which being not living Creatures could not be slain but were offered only by Fire and pouring forth Our Translators render it and not unfitly the Meat Offering from the matter whereof it consisted and from the Rite and manner of Offering the greatest part of it being
to be eaten for Meat Now concerning this Mincha or Meat-Offering there be these six things to be enquired into 1. The Materials of it which were Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 2. The Actions to be performed about it it was to be brought to the Priest the Memorial of it burnt upon the Altar and the Residue eaten by the Priest in the holy place 3. The meaning and signification of it to be a sweet Savour before the Lord. 4. The Additions prohibited to be annexed to it which were two Leaven and Honey 5. The Appurtenance of Drink-Offerings by divine Institution added to it 6. The several Seasons and Occasions on which the Meat-Offering was to be offered These six things we shall enquire into the Lord enabling us chiefly out of this Chapter and partly also out of other Scriptures especially in the two last Enquiries which are not expresly spoken to in this Chapter 1. The Materials of it they were these four Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 1. Bread Corn Wheat or Barley 1 Chron. 21.23 Wheat for the Meat Offering See also Ezek. 45.13 15. where Wheat and Barley are mentioned for the Meat-Offering This was dressed and ordered several ways They might offer the Meat-Offering of Wheat Either only ground and sifted into Flower without any further preparation vers 1. Soleth simila the Flower of Wheat or dressed and cooked into Cakes and Wafers vers 4. Or baked vers 5.6 Or fryed in a frying Pan. vers 7. Or First Fruits not so much as grinding it into Meal or Flower only dryed and beaten vers 14. This Meat-Offering of First Fruits was of Barley because that was first ripe in that Country therefore the name of the first Month in the Year was called Abib Exod. 13.4 quasi mensis spicarum the Month of Ears of Corn. Out of all which Corn-matter of the Meat-Offering I shall mark three things 1. It must be fine Flower purged from the Bran. It shews the pure estate of Christ and of all Christians with their services in him being purged as it were from the Bran of natural Corruption Aynsw in loc Isai 66.20 it appears their manner was to bring them in a clean Vessel We should labour in all our Offerings and Sacrifices to be pure and clean in his sight and to come with purged and refined Spirits God must have the best as the Flower must be fine and not course so in the Burnt-Offering the Beasts were to be without blemish and whatsoever they offered to God must be of the best all betokening the purity and perfection of him of whom they were Types to wit Jesus Christ and beseeming the excellency of him to whom they were offered Engl. Annot. on Numb 28. ult 2. There was a Meat-Offering of First Fruits what this is the Apostle informs us 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is the First Fruits by whom the whole Lump is sanctified There may be also some further accommodations of it whereof we may speak further when we come to the Feast of First Fruits 3. It must be ground sifted baked fryed beaten and the like some such bruising and contusion of it there must be So Christ was bruised for our Iniquities and beaten with stripes for our sins Isai 53.5 wherein his Members are partakers with him Col. 1.24 Hence Ignatius sweetly and spiritually when he was to suffer Martyrdom by being devoured of wild Beasts he speaks how his body was the Lords Corn and must be ground by the Teeth of the wild Beasts to be prepared for the Lord as in the Meat-Offering the Corn was to pass under some such preparation 2. The second Ingredient in the Meat-Offering was Oyl vers 1 4 5 7 15. The quantity of Oyl is not expressed but the meaning was there should be a quantum sufficit a fit proportion of it mingled with the Flower Much use of Oyl there was under the Law and so we shall have occasion to speak further to it It signified in general the Spirit of God in the graces and comforts of it Isai 61.1 which Jesus Christ did receive above measure and from him all Believers in some degree do partake of his anointing There is and must be this sacred Oyl in all our Offerings the influence of the Spirit of God 3. Frankincense The use of this was to make a sweet perfume in the Air when the burning of the other things might have caused an ill scent It figured the acceptableness unto God of the persons and services of his people through the mediation and intercession of Jesus Christ he is set forth by Pillars of smoke perfumed with Myrrhe and Frankincense with all Powders of the Merchant Cant. 3.6 and without him our Offerings are not acceptable nor our Sacrifices sweet unto God Jer. 6.20 Hence there was no Oyl nor Frankincense in the Sin-Offering Lev. 5.11 nor in the Jealousy-Offerings Numb 5.15 because though it was for a Memorial yet it was not to bring the person or his services to remembrance with acceptance before God but to bring his sin to remembrance 4. Salt Vers 13. which being required in all their Offerings and so in the Burnt-Offering there we spoke to it and shewed that it was to teach them the perpetuity of the Covenant of Grace that God had made with them and the wholesome and savoury carriage and walking of his people Now put all this together and it spells thus much That our Meat Offerings our good Works being anointed with the Spirit and perfumed with the Incense of Christs Mediation are accepted of God and that in a Covenant of Salt through the unchangeable faithfulness of God in the Covenant So much for the Materials of the Meat-Offering Corn Oyl Frankincense and Salt 2. The Actions to be performed about it and they were three vers 2 3. 1. It must be brought to the Priest 2. He is to burn a part of it the memorial of it before the Lord. 3. The remnant of it must be eaten by the Priest 1. They were to bring it to the Sons of Aaron the Priests vers 2. There was the same Action before in the Burnt-Offering and there we shewed the meaning of it that it imports a voluntary act of the Offerer and a making use of Christ for acceptance in all our services and approaches unto God 2. The Priest is to burn the memorial of it upon the Altar before the Lord. vers 2 9 and 16. For a memorial This as Interpreters well observe is spoken after the manner of men to put God in remembrance of the person or rather of his own love to him and Covenant with him in Jesus Christ Psal 20.3 The Lord remember all thy Offerings and accept thy Burnt-Sacrifice Act. 10.4 Thy Prayers and thine Almes are come up for a memorial before God Hence Nehemiah prays Remember me O my God concerning this Neh. 13.14 22. the meaning is that the Smoke thereof was to come up before God with acceptance therefore there was Frankincense burnt
express prohibition of any such Rite Lev. 10.8 9. And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying Do not drink Wine or strong drink thou nor thy Sons with thee when you go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation lest you die Vers 10. And that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean 3. The spiritual Mystery of it Doubtless it had much of spiritual mystery in it the Psalmist calls it the Cup of Salvation Psal 116.13 I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord for what other Administration under the Law that expression could relate unto besides this I know not there being no other use of Cups of Wine amongst them in the Worship of God but only in these Drink-Offerings whereof we speak Three things I shall briefly note 1. Wine in typical and allegorical Scriptures doth sometimes signify the joys and consolations of the Holy Ghost for Wine rejoyces and cheers the heart Psal 104.15 Wine that maketh glad the heart of man Therefore the Apostle Ephes 5.18 so speaks Be not inebriated with Wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit The Apostles Antithesis between Wine and the Spirit intimates this Cant. 1.2 Thy love is better than Wine And vers 4. We will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than Wine And Cant. 2.5 Stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of love Stay me with Flagons that is with Flagons of Wine Metonymia subjecti continentis pro contento As in the Supper the Cup is put for the Wine This Cup is my blood that is the Wine in the Cup so here Stay me with Flagons she prays for the sense of his Love 2. We find the Saints pouring out their blood in the Cause of Christ compared to a Drink-Offering Phil. 2.27 2 Tim. 4.6 And so is in an higher in a much higher sense the blood of Christ represented by Wine in the Sacrament of the Supper as his Flesh by Bread and so the Meat and Wine in the Meat-Offering may also represent his Flesh and Blood 3. It shadowed forth the Lords acceptance of his people Shall I leave my Wine wherewith I cheer both God and man Judg. 9.13 that is pleasing to God in Sacrifice Hence when the Lord declares his rejection and disacceptance of them Hos 9.4 he thus expresseth it they shall not offer Wine Offerings to the Lord neither shall they be pleasing unto him 6. The sixth and last Enquiry that was propounded concerning the Meat-Offering is the Seasons and Occasions upon which it was to be offered There is the more cause to speak to this both because the Scripture is Copious in it and because there hath been something of controversy and something perhaps of inadvertency and of mistake about it You may note this in general There be some Offerings which were Meat-Offerings as to their matter which yet did not come under the Rule of the Meat Offering as it is here laid down in this second Chapter of Leviticus There be three Instances of this 1. The Wave Sheaf Lev. 23.10 11. 2. The two Wave Loaves Lev. 23.17 It is true these agreed in the matter with the Meat-Offering properly so called for they were of the Fruits of the Earth that were to be eaten but yet they did not come under the Rule of the Meat-Offering For they were not Ishim Offerings made by Fire they were not to be burnt nor were they most holy to be eaten by the Priests alone in the holy place and they were to be made with Leaven which is contrary to the ordinary Rule of Meat-Offerings But they were Heave-Offerings which were but singly and not doubly holy 3. A third Instance is the Jealousy-Offering Numb 5. which differs from the Meat Offering partly in the matter For the Jealousy-Offering was not fine Flower nor yet Flower of Wheat Qemach Sheirim Meal of Barley 〈◊〉 some render it the Bran of Barley Barley the coursest sort of Bread-Corn and Bran the coursest part of that Grain not Wheat but Barley not Flower but Meal and no Oyl nor Frankincense with it It differed also and chiefly in the end and use the Meat-Offering being for expiation as hath been formerly proved but the Jealousy-Offering was for exploration and discovery of guilt or innocence It was for a Memorial but not for a Memorial of acceptation but to bring sin to remembrance Numb 5.15 For these Reasons though there be something of general agreement being of the Fruits of the earth and so may be called a Meat-Offering in a general sense and so accordingly is called Mincha vers 15. Yet you see how much it differs from the Rule of the Meat-Offering in this second of Leviticus therefore it was not properly a Meat Offering Quest But when then was the Meat Offering offered And what Offerings were there under the Law that come more fully under that notion Ans They were of two sorts either separate or conjoyned with other Offerings Of separate Meat Offerings there are two signal Instances 1. The poor mans Trespass Offering Lev. 5.11 12. in stead of the Trespass Offering of Cattel because of his poverty 2. The Shew Bread Lev. 24 7 9. It seems to have been a Meat-Offering for the Incense was burnt as a Memorial for the Bread say some Or as others an handful of the Flower whereof they were made was burnt for the whole and the rest was eaten by the Priests after they had been presented and had stood for a time before the Lord so much as to separate Meat Offerings Now 2. as to Meat Offerings conjoyned with other Offerings The general Rule is this That they were conjoyned with Burnt Offerings of Cattel and with Peace Offerings whether offered as Vows or as Freewil-Offerings or at their solemn Feasts and in sundry other incidental occasions But they were not conjoyned with Burnt Offerings of Fowls nor with Sin or Trespass Offerings This Rule is both affirmative and negative it is grounded upon Numb 15.4 9. Hence as there was a dayly Burnt-Offering so there was a dayly Meat-Offering Numb 4.16 Numb 28.4 5. And sometimes the Lord gave signal testimonies of his acceptance of it as 2 King 3.9 10 20. So at the Consecration of the Priests and Levites Lev. 8.26 27. And Lev. 9.4 At the Consecration of the Levites Numb 8.8 At the Expiration of the Nazarites Vow Numb 6.17 At the Dedication of the Tabernacle there were twelve Meat-Offerings according to the number of the Tribes Numb 7.13 14. Also the Sheaf of First Fruits though it self was a Wave-Offering yet there was a Meat-Offering annexed to them Lev. 23.18 So that generally where you have a Burnt-Offering or a Peace-Offering under the Law whether under the notion of a Vow or a Freewil-Offering or at their stated Feasts and in most incidental occasions though I cannot say in all for it is not mentioned in the purification of
the Tent of the Congregation and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernalce so Numb 12.5 the Lord came down in the Pillar of Cloud and stood in the door of the Tabernacle So when Solomon had finished the Temple and placed the Ark in the holy place the Cloud filled the House of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud For the Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord 1 King 8.10 11. Isaiah likewise saw his Glory in the Temple Isai 6.1 I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple 3. These places had their typical significations of Christ and Gospel Mysteries Therefore much of the Name of God was in them There were chiefly two great Mysteries in them Christ and the Church 1. The Temple was a Type of Christ Joh. 2.19 destroy this Temple and within three days I will raise it up But he spake of the Temple of his Body v. 21. Therefore the Apostle saith that in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 He was a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man Heb. 9.11 2. It was a Type of the Church 1 Tim. 3.15 how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God Ephes 2.20 21 22. And it was a Type not only of the whole Church in general but of every Believer in particular 1 Cor. 6.19 what know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost He dwells in their very Bodies much more in their Souls The manner how the Deity dwells in these Temples is very mysterious and glorious 4. These places were appointed of God to be parts yea principal and eminent parts of his Worship I say they were parts of his Worship or Ordinances they were such eminent parts of his Worship that they did sanctifie both the Worshipers and all the Worship performed in them The Altar sanctified the Gift the Temple sanctified the Gold Matth. 23.18 19. The Places did bring acceptance to the Worship so that the Places were principal and the Duties less principal as some express it There will I accept them Ezek. 20.40 Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee 5. They were by Gods appointment the seat of all the publick Church-worship of those times They did perform the moral Worship of Prayer and reading and hearing the Law in all their Synagogues but their publick Church-worship was annexed and affixed to the Temple only There be three things in the Text as to this 1. Thither shalt thou seek that is for Answers and Oracles from the holy Place and from the Priest by Vrim and Thummim For so the Lord had appointed Exod. 25.22 there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony And accordingly so they did Numb 7.8 9. And they were to enquire by Vrim and Thummim Therefore it is said of Joshuah when he was to be chief Magistrate Numb 27.21 and he shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him after the Judgment of Urim before the Lord at his Word shall they go out and at his Word that is at Eleazar the Priest answering from God shall they come in both he that is Joshuah and all the Children of Israel with him even all the Congregation All other places were forbidden for this use seek not Bethel enter not into Gilgal Amos 5.5 And the Lord severely punish'd it in Ahaziah the Son of Ahab 2 Kings 1.16 Elijah said unto him for as much as thou hast sent Messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his Word therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely dye The Devil in imitation and abuse of this Ordinance of God had his Oracles and gave Answers in the old Pagan times but his Answers were usually sophistical and ambiguous And after the Death of Christ God was pleased to chain him up therefore Plutarch an Heathen Philosopher in his Morals hath a Discourse upon it why the Oracles are ceased and he hath an expression for the resolving of it which hath more of truth in it than himself understood Amongst other things he gives this account of it that it was because the great God Pan was dead It was indeed because Jesus Christ who is the great God and the great Shepherd of the Sheep had sufferd Death and thereby conquered Satan and hath therefore stopt Devils mouth from giving answers in that way ever since 2. Thither shalt thou come that is at all their appointed Festivals three times a year Exod. 23.14 17. and whensoever they offered Sacrifice as afterwards ver 6. 3. Thither shall ye bring your Burnt-offerings and your Sacrifices c. ver 6. so Levit. 17.8 9. here is a particular induction and enumeration of their holy things Your Burnt-offerings mentioned first as being the first sort and all the rest depending much upon that Your Sacrifices this is a general word including all that belonged unto the Altar And your Tithes these were for the Maintenance of the Priests whereof Levit. 27.30 32. They had two sorts of Tithes the first went to the Priests and Levites then of that which remained they were to separate a second Tithe and this the Owners were to eat before the Lord in the place that he should chuse as infra ver 17 18. The Heave-offerings of thine Hand that is the First fruits which they were to bring in their hands before the Lord Deut. 26.2 thou shalt take of the first of all the Fruit of the Earth and shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse to place his Name there and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God Your Vows and voluntary Offerings of which see Levit. 7.16 Firstlings of you Herd and Flock often declared to be the Lords Numb 3.13 because all the First-born are mine For on the day that I smote all the First-born in the Land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the First-born in Israel both man and beast mine they shall be I am the Lord. For the Use of all there is a fourfold Instruction from all that hath been said concerning these holy Places under the Law 1. The first Instruction is concerning the Cessation of this Holiness of places under the New Testament For this being a part of the Ceremonial Law it must needs be ceased and vanished away now that Christ the thing signified is come The Papists have borrowed this as they do many other of their Superstitions from the
mine eye-lids until I find out a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. THE GOSPEL of SOLOMONS TEMPLE Octob. 25. 1668. 2 Sam. 7.13 He shall build an House for my Name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever OF their holy places under the Law the chief was the Tabernacle and the Temple The difference between which two was not in their typical use and signification wherein they were the same but only that the one was movable the other fixed The Tabernacle was a movable Temple the Temple was a fixed Tabernacle and accordingly they differed in their quantity and dimensions the Temple being double the quantity of the Tabernacle suitable to its fixed state but the Tabernacle was lesser and lighter because it was to be portable and fit for the shoulders of the Levites who were to carry it from place to place The Temple being the greater and more glorious of the two I have chosen to speak to that and in so doing shall speak of the Tabernacle also so far as is requisite to this end of opening the typical significations of these legal shadows The Text speaks of two things the Temple and the Kingdom it is the former of which I am to speak The Doctrinal Proposition in the words is this Doctr. That God appointed Solomon to build him a Temple or an House unto his Name A Temple is an House inhabited by a Deity As a man dwells in his House so God dwelt in the Temple or as Satan dwells in the Temples of Idols and in false Churches which are therefore called Synagogues of Satan and habitations of Devils so God dwells in the Temple and in the true Gospel-Churches I give these opposite instances because contraries put together do illustrate one another To dwell there is to vouchsafe his Presence there The Temple was a very great and glorious Type both the Temple and all the concernments of it were mystical and significant of Gospel-truths The general significations of the Temple were Christ and the Church and every individual Saint See the Sermon on Deut. 12.5 6. p. 409. where this is proved at large this in general But besides these significations of the Temple in general almost all the particulars about the Temple had their particular mysteries and instructions They may be referred to five heads 1. the Builders 2. the time 3. the Place 4. the Materials and Preparations for it 5. the Parts of the Temple 1. The Builders 1. of the Tabernacle 2. of the first Temple 3. of the second Temple 1. Of the Tabernacle Moses Bezaliel Aholiab The people contributed Exod 35. and every Princes Offering at the Dedication of it is set down particularly Numb 6.7 to shew that the Lord takes special notice of the Bounty and Liberality of his people to Work 2. Of the first Temple David and Solomon David made vast preparations for it appointed the place and gave the pattern of it in writing to his Son 2 Sam. 8.11 12 1 Chron. 29.2 3 4 5. and 1 Chron. 28.11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. Solomon had an Army of Workmen that were employed about it 1 Kings 5.23 to the end One hundred and fifty thousand Bearers of burdens thirty thousand Israelites for plain work three thousand and three hundred Officers besides Hirams men 3. The second Temple Cyrus Isai 44. and 45. Ezra 1. Jehoshua and Zerubbabel Take these Instructions from this 1. The chief Builders were Types of Christ whose work and office it is to build the Temple of the Lord. Moses Solomon Zerubbabel were so and some think Cyrus also was a good man and a Type of Christ but concerning the other there is no controversie 2. Obs That all hands should help to carry on Church-work 3. Obs The Freedom and Soveraignty of God in the choice and use of Instruments to do his work He chose Cyrus who was by birth a Persian he singles out and chuses whom he will He chose Paul a Persecuter to be an instrument to plant and gather Churches Strangers of Tyre and Sidon Kings of Persia Gentiles as well as Jews shall be added to the Church Those that were once strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel they that are far off shall come and build in the Temple of the Lord Zech. 6. ult 2. The time the Tabernacle was built about the year of the World two thousand five hundred and thirteen the Temple about four hundred eighty seven years after 1 Kings 6.1 ult which fell upon the year of the World three thousand according to that account The Temple stood from the Dedication of it by Solomon to the last Destruction of it by the Romans about a thousand years For to the Captivity in Babylon was about four hundred years the Captivity lasted seventy years From thence to the Death of the Messiah four hundred and ninety years which is Daniels seventy weeks cap. 9. After Christs Death it was destroyed by Vespasian about forty years after So that it was finished and dedicated about the year of the World three thousand and finally destroyed about the year of the World four thousand so it stood from first to last about a thousand years viz. the fourth millenary from the Creation of the World excepting the intercision of the Captivity in Babylon It lay wast about fifty years a whole Jubile some think seventy but the least is fifty supposing their bondage under the yoke of Babylon to begin about 20 years before the burning of the Temple In all this we see the vicissitudes and various revolutions that do befall the Church of God whereof the Temple was a Type and that the ingratitude and unprofitableness of a people may bring Desolation upon all their pleasant things The greatest glory of external Ordinances may by sin be laid in the dust as this Temple was twice And moreover the use of it was ended Christ the substance being come 3. The Place Mount Moriah was the place of the Temple there was a double designation of the place to this use 1. By Isaacs being offered there Gen. 22. get thee to the Land of Moriah c. 2. By the Angels staying there and commanding an Altar to be built there in Davids time and Gods answering David from Heaven by fire on that Altar 1 Chron. 21. with cap. 22.1 We may here learn the Soveraignty and unsearchable freedom of the Will and Grace of God in choosing one place to be the Seat of his Temple of his Church and Ordinances rather than another For it was said Psal 87.2 He loveth the Gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob. Why he chose this I know no reason can be given but the good Pleasure of his own Will So that the Lord should chuse England to have Gospel-Temples here to plant his Churches and Ordinances here rather than in Spain or Italy he hath reprobated them to be the seat of Antichrist but hath chosen these to be
is no Gospel-mystery therefore no need it should be typified by so great a Type If there be any thing of old that may any way relate to it it must be some small circumstance of some Tye but not such a great and principal a Type as the Altar 2. The Altar is greater than the Gist Matth. 23.19 but the wooden Cross is not greater or more excellent than the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for us nor doth it sanctifie or make Jesus Christ accepted Therefore the wooden Cross is not the Altar There hath been also another weak and impertinent application of it which is to be found in some books of Devotion viz. the Altar of our Hearts But wherein the Heart is like an Altar I cannot tell The same argument confutes this also It is not thy Heart that sanctifies thee or thy Services But then what is the Altar The Answer is that the Altar is Christ himself so the Holy Ghost himself expounds it Heb. 13.10 Quest But how doth the Altar represent Christ Answer In two respects in regard of his Deity and Priestly Office 1. It is Christ in regard of his Divine nature Reas 1. Because his Humane nature was the Sacrifice therefore his Deity is the Altar for in offering Sacrifice there must be both a Sacrifice and an Altar And so in Christ there are two natures his Deity and Humanity whereof the Humane nature being the Sacrifice that was slain and offered for us it remains that his other nature was the Altar Reas 2. Because it is the Altar that sanctifies the Gift Matth. 23.19 Exod. 29.37 But it was the Deity of Christ that gave that infinite vertue and value to his sufferings It was his Deity that sanctified his Humane nature to be such an acceptable Sacrifice to the Lord. Reas 3. Because the Altar did support and bear up the Sacrifice But it was his Divine nature that did support his Humane nature in those unutterable Sufferings Heb. 9.14 through the eternal Spirit he offered up himself unto God What did that piece of Wood do It did but cruciate and torture his blessed Body it did not bear up his Spirit It is true that Tree did lift up his Body from the earth but it was another manner of support that was necessary to our Salvation 2. The Altar typifies Christ in regard of his Priestly Office You know he hath a threefold Office he is a Prophet Priest and King The Altar looks chiefly at his Priestly Office and the concernments of that for as a Priest he offered Sacrifice and it is the Altar that doth support and sanctifie the Sacrifice Both the Natures of Christ have an influence into all his Offices and so into his Priestly by which he made satisfaction for our sins To open it a little more particularly all the concernments of the Altar are full of mystery and teaching I shall instance in seven particulars about it wherein you may see something of Christ and of the Gospel 1. There was but one Altar the Lord forbad all others though intended to himself 2 Kings 18.22 so there is but one Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 The Papists have other Mediators Saints and Angels c. this is to have many Altars whereas the Lord accepts none but this nor no Sacrifice but what is offered upon this Altar 2. The Altar had four Horns upon the four corners of it they are called Horns because they were made like Horns upwards but bending towards the top Ezek. 43.15 upward shall be the four Horns The use of them was not only for Ornament but to keep things from falling off the Altar and to bind the Sacrifice to them when they were to slay it as Psal 118.27 Horns is an emblem of power Jer. 48.25 the Horn of Moab is cut off that is his strength and power saith your Marginal note Lam. 2.3 he hath cut off in his fierce anger all the Horn of Israel 1 Sam. 2.1 Mine Horn is exalted in the Lord it is applied to God Hab. 3.4 he had Horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power These four Horns of the Altar signified the Power and Glory of Christs Priesthood for the Salvation of his Church gathered together from the four corners of the earth Ainsw in Exod. 27.1 If the Altar be his Deity the Horns of this Altar is the Power of his Deity the Horns of an almighty Power Fly for refuge thither and thou art safe enough Joab fled to the Horns of the Altar but he was pluckt from thence and slain 1 Kings 2.31 according to the Law Exod. 21.14 But he that flies to Christ and hangs upon the Horns of this Altar shall never be pluckt thence he that comes to me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 3. The Altar was anointed and so sanctified unto its Office Numb 7.1 Exod. 40.9 this is the Sanctification or Inauguration of our Lord Jesus Christ into his Office he was anointed with the Spirit above measure not only the Graces thereof in his Humane nature but that glorious Person himself goes forth by commission from the Father and the Son as the Son by commission from the Father to reconcile and save sinners 4. There were divers Vessels of the Altar belonging to it for the use and service of it Numb 4.14 of Brass 1 Kings 7.47 of Gold 1 Chron. 28.17 also pure Gold for the Flesh-hooks Of which they being necessary instruments for the work of sacrificing we need not seek a particular mystery and signification in every Vessel only in general some apply them to the Ordinances of the Gospel the means of Grace which do attend upon the Altar upon the Service of Jesus Christ in his Church As we have an Altar under the Gospel so we have Vessels belonging to this Ordinance Gospel-Ordinances whereof there is great use As the Priests could not sacrifice and officiate about the Altar without Knives and Flesh-hooks and Shovels c. so we cannot have communion with Christ without means and Ordinances 5. The Altar was furnished with Fire from Heaven which was to be kept always burning Now what is the mystery of this sacred Fire 1. The Wrath of God against Sin He is a consuming Fire an everlasting burning against sin and sinners Heb. 12. ult Isai 33.16 2. The Spirit of God is compared to Fire Matth. 3.11 He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with Fire Isai 4.4 When he shall have purged the Blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of Judgment and by the spirit of burning And it is a sacred Fire that never goes out We should be careful to keep this Fire burning take heed of grieving of quenching the Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 3. The Word and Ordinances are like unto Fire Jer. 23.29 they will burn up and consume what opposeth them Rev 11.5 it s said of the two Witnesses that Fire goes
out of their mouths that is the Word of God denouncing the Wrath of God fiery indignation devours the adversaries Heb. 10.27 4. We read of fiery tryals and afflictions Luke 12.49 I am come to send fire on the earth 1 Pet. 4.12 Think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal the fiery tryal of Persecution by open enemies publickly opposing the fiery tryal of Contention by false brethren secretly undermining 6. The Fire of the Altar came from Heaven Lev. 9.24 2 Chronic 7.1 strange Fire is forbidden Lev. 10.1 1. Humane inventions which he had not commanded them Lev. 10.1 2. Carnal Wrath and Passion this is not the Fire of the Altar but strange Fire James 3.17 Wisdome from above is first pure then peaceable c. the wrath of man accomplishes not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 7. The use of the Altar in reference to the Sacrifice was to support and sanctifie it the Altar did two things both which Faith is to eye and look unto both as done in Christ and to be done in us 1. To support the Sacrifice and bear it up so Christ was born up by the power of his Deity 2. To make it acceptable so Christs Sufferings are so infinitely precious and acceptable with the Lord through the glory and excellency of his Person there is nothing else will bear up a Soul under sense of Guilt but this to consider who it was that died and suffered for us It was the Son of God And the reason of many fears and tremblings of unbelief is because the Soul looks at the Sacrifice without the Altar looks at the Death of Christ but considers not the Altar the Deity that sanctifies the Gift As to us we need both support and acceptance eye both these in Christ eye Christ for them to your own Souls 1. Support when the heart is ready to sink and to be overwhelmed with the difficulties that do occur thou art weak but here is strength 2. Acceptance Isai 56.7 their Burnt-offerings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar thou art unworthy but leave thy Gift upon the Altar and it shall be accepted whatsoever toucheth the Altar shall be holy Vse 1. See the unlawfulness yea the abominableness of material Altars and Altar-worship under the New Testament For the Altar was a Type of Jesus Christ in his Deity and Priesthood therefore Altars are ceased For is not Jesus Christ the Son of God or hath God another Son to dye for us or do we look for another Gospel that we must build Altars to typifie the mysteries thereof Because it lies directly in my way and it is one of the worst and grossest of the Superstitions and Corruptions of Worship in our times I may not well pass it by consider but two things here 1. The Lords Table is not an Altar ought not to be so called or so accounted 2. The many other evils that are involved in this and go along with it 1. The Communion Table is not an Altar and ought not to be so called nor so accounted Take three arguments for the proof of this Reas 1. Because the Scripture calls it a Table but not an Altar and we must speak of God and of his Ordinances as God himself doth in his word So the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.21 ye cannot be partaker of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils so Christ Luk 22.21 the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the Table Reas 2. An Altar implies a Sacrifice and sacrificing Priests for Priests Altar and Sacrifice are relatives and have a mutual and inseparable connexion and dependance upon one another But the Lords Supper is not a Sacrifice nor the Ministers of the Gospel Priests therefore the Lords Table is not an Altar The use of an Altar is to offer Sacrifice upon but when we come to the Lords Supper do we come to Sacrifice Christ again and to crucifie the Son of God afresh No but we come to celebrate the memory of his Death who dyed once for all Heb. 10.10 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb 9.28 and 7.27 To talk of a commemorative Sacrifice is meer non-sense and a contradiction for as the Picture of a man is no man so the commemoration of a Sacrifice is in truth no Sacrifice If it were a Sacrifice offered upon the Table as an Altar they should make four Horns upon the four corners of the Table and they should make a Grate for the Fire and they should put Fire to their Altars to burn the Sacrifice even the Bread and Wine Reas 3. If the Communion Table were an Altar then it should be greater and better then the Sacramental Bread and Wine then the Lords Supper it self and a means to consecrate them for the Altar sanctifies all the Gifts and Sacrifices that are offered upon it and is greater then the Gift Matth. 23.18 19. Hence it is said the Altar shall be holiness of Holinesses or most holy Exod. 40.10 But the Table is not greater then the Lords Supper Therefore the Table is not an Altar It is true some of the Antients have called it an Altar but unscripturally and improperly as they did also use other extravagant and wanton Metaphors calling it Solium Christi the Throne of Christ whereas Christ is not represented on the Table in his Majesty as upon a Throne but in his lowest humility and deepest abasement as broken crucified c. These expressions of the Fathers 1. They were unscriptural the Scripture doth not use such language nor speak of the Communion Table in such a strain 2. They have done much hurt in the Church unawares to those good men and have been inlets and occasions of much Superstition 3. When they used this phrase of speech the Sacrifice of the Mass and Priests and much other Idolatrous Popish trash was not known nor heard of in the world neither were there any to be scandalized with those phrases and to use them to such ill ends and purposes as the Papists and other superstitious persons have improved them therefore such language is worse now then it was then 4. Others of the Fathers have testified against Altars even in the primitive times O igen contra Gelsum l. 4. as Origen who lived about two hundred years after Christ Objicit nobis Celsus quod non habemus Imagines aut Aras aut Templa He that is Celsus chargeth the Christian Religion with this that we have neither Images nor Altars nor Temples Arnob. l. 6. apud Quench-cole p. 71 72. In answer to this Origen doth not deny the Charge but confesseth the matter of fact to be true and defends it from the very fundamental grounds of Religion and so doth Arnobius and others 2. Consider the many other evils that follow and flow from this and go along with it from this blind conceit that the Lords Table is an Altar hence follows 1. Calling it an high Altar and making steps to
and to the Blood of sprinkling 2. It is called a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal for pureness and excellency This is spoken not as by way of diminution but to set out the Glory of it All which agrees well to the justifying Blood of Christ which is more precious than Gold or Silver 1 Pet. 1.18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Gold and Silver from your vain conversation but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ Reas 4. From other parallel places in this Book where the Sea is spoken of where it relates to the Blood of Christ as dispensed in the Ordinances as in the second Trumpet cap. 8.8 The corruption and declension of the visible Church when declining unto Popery is set out by this that the third part of the Sea became Blood the Worship and Ordinances were infected with deadly corruption And in the second Vial cap. 16.3 when the Popish corruptions are discovered and made to appear it is said the Sea became like the Blood of a dead man and every living Soul in that Sea dyed Salvation is not to be had in the Popish way of Worship it is deadly unto Souls instead of conveying Christ and his Blood to save and quicken it exhibits nothing but the Blood of a dead man And hence also the Saints in the Reformation out of Popery are said to stand upon this Sea of Glass mingled with fire c. 15.2 The Protestant Churches and Reformers have ever insisted upon this Justification by faith in the Blood of Christ and not by Works so in like manner here in this place this Sea of Crystal before the Throne is the Blood of Christ in the Ordinances for washing and cleansing Reas 5. There is no other interpretation given by Expositors save only that some have taken this Crystal Sea to be the World and say they are compared to a Sea for tempestuousness to Glass for brittleness and to Crystal for transparency But beside that these accommodations are more ingenious then solid and demonstrative it is impertinent to the scope of the place thus to bring in the World here the whole design of the Chapter being to set forth the Glory of God in the Church under Temple-images and allusions as hath been shewed I shall therefore now conclude with a few words as by way of use from all that hath been said upon this Temple-Sea Vse 1. We have here some intimation of the Preeminence of the Gospel above the Law in that they had the figures of these Mysteries but we have the things themselves and in that the Temple-Sea was but of Brass but this in the Text is of Glass and not common Glass but Crystal This may intimate something of preference and preeminence of Gospel-dispensations above the Law Vse 2. Note here secondly the deadly corruption of the Popish Religion and the main difference between a Papist and a Protestant The Papists want this Crystal Sea it is true they have a Sea such as it is but it is not a Crystal Sea filled with this pure and precious and Soul-cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ but theirs is a Sea of dead Blood They use to brag and boast much of the Sea of Rome Take it for the Seat of their Bishop Romana Sedes It is but the Throne of the Beast the Seat of Antichrist But the Text speaks of a Sea in another sense And theirs is but a Mare mortuum no Fish can live in that Sea no Soul in that Church in that Religion But the Protestant Churches they have sure and firm footing upon this Sea of Glass as cap. 15.2 and I saw as it were a Sea of Glass mingled with Fire and them that had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his Mark and over the number of his Name stand on the Sea of Glass having the Harps of God It is mingled with Fire the fire of the Spirit of God burning and working effectually in them And there is indeed a fire of Contention also and Divisions and Differences amongst Protestants but yet here we stand safe even upon the Righteousness of Jesus Christ for Justification as applied to us in his own Ordinances and Institutions Here we stand with Harps of God triumphing and rejoycing in Christ Jesus Vse 3. Here is Direction to unclean Souls and defiled Consciences what course to take and whither to go for cleansing Especially when you are to come before the Throne to approach into the presence of God in solemn duties stand upon this Crystal Sea wash in this Fountain make use of Christ in this respect You that complain O this unclean heart of mine how shall I appear in the presence of such an holy God Here is a Sea to wash in For your your help therein take these four Rules 1. See thy own uncleanness and need of cleansing Isai 6.5 Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Ther 's not only personal defilements but defilements by contagion from others for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Before that great and holy God I stand with such an unclean unholy heart Therefore wash or else you dye Exod. 30.20 21. Aaron and his Sons shall wash their hands and their feet that they dye not The reason why so many Professors prove hypocrites and so dye and perish at last is because they rest in a moral way of Profession they do not live upon Christ for Righteousness and Life They avoid some sins it may be and perform some duties but rest there There is a neglect of Christ and of daily washing in the Sea of his Blood and so they dye before the Lord. 2. Know and be convinced that no other means will do it for though thou wash thee with Nitre and take thee much sope yet thine iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord Jer. 2.22 you may as soon wash a Blackamoor white as cleanse a defiled Conscience by duties and ordinances and moral endavours without Christ yea they will but make thee worse for the Lord will not bless them when carnally trusted to and rested in without Christ As suppose a man were baptized or washed in a puddle in some dirty muddy pond he comes out fouler then he went in so men by their own endeavours and duties become worse 3. This Fountain is set open The Blood of Christ is offered the Lord gives thee liberty to wash thy self in this Sea In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13.1 It is not a Fountain sealed but set open in regard of the general offer of the Gospel unto all 4. Hence all thou hast to do for thy spiritual cleansing is only to apply and receive this Blood this Soul-cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ which the Lord
here consider Priests as Ministers for the Levitical Ministry was a Type of the Gospel-Ministry And so the Instruction here is this That the Priests should feed and live themselves upon the same Christ and the same Truths they preach to others 1 Tim. 4.16 Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 5. There was Incense set upon the Bread Lev. 24.7 and thou shalt put pure Frakincense upon each row Incense was a Type of Prayer so the Word and Prayer should go together The solemn Dispensation of the Word should be accompanied with Prayer Acts. 6.4 But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word It is said of the Levites Deut. 33.10 they shall teach Jacob thy Judgments and Israel thy Law they shall preach the Word They shall put Incense before thee and whole burnt Sacrifice upon thine Altar Here is Prayer and the Administration of the Sacraments which do succeed instead of the Jewish Sacrifices 6. Christ thus feeding and sustaining his Church gives us some intimation of his Kingly Office For he is this Bread of Life by which their Lives are sustained and upheld And so look as the Candlestick points especially to his Prophetical Office in teaching and enlightening us and the Altar and Vessels of Incense to that great work of his Priestly Office mediating and interceding for us so the Table of Shew-bread speaks his Kingly Office in sustaining and upholding of us 7. A third mystery of the Shew-bread is this It seems to have been a Sacrifice unto the Lord namely a Meat-offering and consequently all the Gospel-mysteries of the Meat-offering do belong to the Shew-bread as being one species or kind thereof For the Rule is this in Lev. 24.7 Thou shalt put pure Frankincense upon each row that it may be on the Bread for a memorial even an Offering made by Fire unto the Lord and accordingly it was to be eaten as other Fire-offerings were by Aaron and his Sons in the Holy place For it is most holy unto him of the Offerings of the Lord made by Fire ver 9. The Incense was burnt upon the Altar as a memorial for the Bread or as some think an handful of the Flower whereof they were made was burnt with the Incense for the whole Now the Meat-offering did purge away Sin as typifying the Righteousness of Jesus Christ both his active and passive Obedience 1 Sam. 3.14 purged by Sacrifice or by Meat-offering It signified also the Persons and Services of the Saints and the Acceptance of both before the Lord. All which may be applied to the Shew-bread under the notion of a Meat-offering Therefore I shall not here insist upon these Considerations but refer them to that place to which they do belong namely to the legal Offerings and Sacrifices where the Meat-offering comes to be considered But as to the two former notions of the Shew-bread to improve them a little more practically we may apply them both for Comfort and for Tryal 1. For Comfort As the Church is this Shew-bread they stand before the Lord continually his eye is ever upon them Though thou art one whom Man despiseth and whom the Nations abhor as usually the best of Gods people are most hated and least beloved in the world yet if the Lord regard thee what though men despise thee Psal 40. ult I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me Quest But how may I know that I am one of those that are under the Eye and Care and Love of God Answ The second notion of the Shew-bread speaks to this Dost thou feed upon Christ Is he the Shew-bread the Food of thy Soul whom as a spiritual Priest thou dost feed upon by Faith Then thou art the Shew-bread in that other notion as being continually before the Lord under his eye of special Care and Love And because all depends upon this let me give you a few Directions about it some Directions in eating the Shew-bread in feeding upon Christ in the Word 1. Do not feed upon other things Isai 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your Mony for that which is not Bread It is but to feed upon Husks Luke 15 16. and lying Vanities that cannot profit As if through a Distemper in the Stomach a man eats Coals or feeds upon Ashes it hurts the Appetite and weakens Nature so in Spirituals 2. Do not feed upon the Word without Christ in the Word For it is not the Letter of the Word it is not the bare Letter of the Promise but Christ in the Promise that is the Food of the Soul there be some that catch at the Promises and Benefits of Christ but do not close with Christ himself in the Promise who is indeed exhibited and manifested therein Therefore you should labour to see Christ himself there to behold his Glory as the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth as Joh. 1.14 to see his fitness and suitableness to all the necessities of a poor sinful Soul and that he is a person every way fit to be the great means of our access unto God and so upon that account to close with him as your Saviour having seen who and what a one he is as revealed in the Word of Promise by which we are first united to his Person and then do enjoy Communion with him in his Benefits 3. Never think that you seed upon Christ in the Promise a right until you find strength and nourishment from him Bread strengthens mans heart Psal 104.15 16. It is a lamentable thing when the Bread of life strengthens not when there is no staff nor stay in the Promise when God sends leanness into mens Souls But may not true Believers complain of unprofitableness Yes But strength comes at last if they go on to feed upon this food Therefore that which I aim at is this that you should never cease believing and eating and feeding upon Christ in every Ordinance and at every opportunity till at last you find strength and spiritual nutriment unto your Souls by him THE GOSPEL of the INCENSE and the GOLDEN ALTAR in the HOLY of HOLIES Dece 27 1668. Hebr. 9.3 4 5. And after the second Veil the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all which had the Golden Censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with Gold wherein was the Golden Pot that had Munna and Aarons Rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant and over it the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-seat of which we cannot now speak particularly HAving spoken of the holy Vessels in the Sanctuary we are now to treat of the sacred Furniture of the Holy of Holies concerning which we formerly observed from this Text this Doctrinal proposition Obs 5. That the sacred Furniture or the holy Vessels and Vtensils belonging to the Holy of holies were the Golden vessels for the
home and be converted but also that we be preserved unto his heavenly Kingdom Joh. 17.15 He prays that we should be kept from the evil Hence sometimes Believers are kept from being tempted But if they be tempted they are either kept from falling by temptations or if they fall from lying in their falls 4. Suppose you meet with troubles oppositions and persecutions from the world Let the world speak evil of us yet Christ speaks well of us or rather for us to his Father and then what need we fear See Isai 51.7 8. 5. Thy Prayers are full of weaknesses and imperfections but the Prayers of Jesus Christ have no weakness and imperfection going along with them Quest But how may I know that Christ prays for me Answ Thou maist know it by two things 1. If thou hast a heart to pray for thy self thy Prayers are the eccho of his Intercession if Christ hath taught thee to pray for thy self Christ intercedes and prays in Heaven for thee Rom. 8.27 2. Hath the Lord taught thee to prize the Prayer and Intercession of Jesus Christ for thee if so it is a sign he is interceding for thee Heb. 7.25 Vse 2. This also makes against the Papists who plead for Mediators of Intercession though not of Satisfaction beside Christ This cannot be for his Intercession is founded in his Satisfaction the Scripture makes him the only Mediator of Intercession Rev. 8.3 It is true the Saints do pray or intercede for one another but yet they are not Mediators because it is not their own Incense nor their own Blood but it is his Incense it is his Blood that makes their Prayers effectual They do not pray in their own name but in his but he prays in his own name by the merit of his own Blood THE GOSPEL of the ARK and its Appertainances in the HOLY of HOLIES Jan. 3. 1668. Hebr. 9.4 5. THe Ark with its appertainances was another of the holy vessels belonging to the Holy of holies and it was the chief of all their holy things as appears in sundry respects as for instance 1. It had many glorious appertainances that related to it many other vessels belonging to this as the Cherubims c. 2. The place of it was the Holy of holies 3. Solomon though he made all other things new in the Temple yet he did not make a new Ark but only introduced the same which Moses had made with great solemnity into the Oracle the place which he had prepared for it 2 Chron. 5.7 Whatever changes and varieties there may be in other things whereby God dispenseth himself unto and amongst mankind other utensils may be made new there may be new Ordinances new Administrations but there is no new Christ Never look for any new or further Administration in this respect as there is no new God so there is no new Christ but Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. It is a blind and blasphemous delusion to speak of Christ as an Administration that is to pass away when the Saints have passed under it for a while 4. In that the Providences about it were very great and glorious and full of teaching and instruction The Ark of God led them through the Wilderness We are to follow the Guidance of Christ through the world It was carried with Bars so is Christ upon the Ministry of the Gospel from one place to another As the Levites did carry the Ark so Preachers may be said to carry Christ to bear his Name among the Gentiles so Paul Act. 9.15 Many great things were done by it Jordan was divided by it so by Christ all obstacles are removed out of the way The Walls of Jericho fell by it so by Christs coming the strong holds of Satans Kingdom are cast down It was the downfall of Dagon So is Christ of Satan and Idolatry While the Ark was amongst the Philistines they were plagued but Obed-Edom was blessed while it was at his House so Christ in the Gospel to some brings wrath being refused to others Salvation Eli and his Daughter died when the Ark was taken and the Bethshemites rejoyced exceedingly when they saw it so the presence of Christ brings comfort but his absence grief and sorrow The Bethshemites were punished for prying into the Ark. It is a dangerous thing to search into inscrutable Mysteries Be wise unto sobriety The Ark after many travels was brought at last to a place of rest in Solomons Temple so Christ after many wearisome journies on Earth was at length taken up into Heaven a place of rest where he sits at the right hand of God But as to this glorious Utensil it self we may observe these things 1. The Ark was the Throne of God on which he did appear sitting on his Throne of Grace and Glory and from whence he spake and gave forth Answers and Oracles Hence we read of a Throne of Grace Heh 4. ult This Throne of Grace is that Mercy-seat that covered the Ark on which God sate and where he is said to dwell between the Cherubims Psal 80.1 1. Here he gave upon special occasions visible appearances of his Glory This is that Shechinah which the Jewish Rabbins speak of And they have it from the Scriptures and the Prophets Ezek. 1. last and cap. 9. and 10. The Glory of the Lord is said to appear and to remove and depart away by little and little There was still less and less of God among them till he was quite gone So Isai 6.1 Rev. 4.2.3 2. Hence the Lord spake with audible voice and gave forth his answers so he promised to Moses Exod. 25.22 so Numb 7. ult The mystery of all which is this that God is to be seen in Christ and that he speaks and reveals his mind to us only in and through Jesus Christ 2. The Mercy-seat which was upon the Ark was a Type of the passive Obedience and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ for our sins whom God hath set forth to be Rom. 3.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 he is the propitiation for our sins 3. The Law which was within the Ark is the active Obedience of Christ Psal 40.8 thy Law is within my heart 4. The Golden Pot of Manna is Christ in the Word Exod. 16. Joh. 6.48 49 50 51. He is the true Manna the true Bread of life 5. Aarons Rod that budded is the Ministry blessed with success for the good of Souls Numb 17.10 this was reserved before the Testimony for a token against the Rebels 6. The Cherubims upon the Ark are the Angels ministring to the Lord Ezek. 1. they are there described Is 6.2 they look towards the Ark they pry into the mysteries of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.12 held forth by the Church Eph. 3.10 The mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God being above their comprehension and their Subjection to Christ as Mediator being not included originally within the Law
conversation of their lives that is the true Gospel-Musick 3. These Trumpets and other musical instruments were used in time of War and appointed by God so to be Numb 10.9 the Trumpets were to sound to prepare and call them forth to the War to encourage their Faith in it that they should be remembred before the Lord and have success over their enemies sometimes visible success attending this Ordinance as in Jehosaphats time 2 Chron. 20.21 22. they sounded the Trumpet praising the Beauty of Holiness and when they began to sing praises the Lord set ambushments against Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir and then they were smitten 4. It was the Office of the Priests to sound these Trumpets as in Numb 10.8 the Sons of Aaron the Priest must do it To shew that the publick Dispensation of the Word and Gospel belongs to and is intrusted chiefly with the Sons of Aaron the Ministers of the Gospel they must sound the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel in the ears of the world 5. The matter they were made of some were of Silver and some of Horn Numb 10.1 and in 1 Chron. 15.28 The Cornet that is an instrument of Horn so in that 98. Psal 6. with Trumpet and sound of Cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King And Rams Horns did beat down the Walls of Jericho Josh 6. If God institute the Rams Horns they shall be as powerful as the Silver Trumpets To teach us that the meanest Gifts of any Godly Ministers if sincere are accepted and may be blessed of God for the good of Souls for the casting down of strong holds and for success and victory against our spiritual enemies Rams Horns may do it as well as Silver Trumpets 6. Their number at first was but two Numb 10.2 that is for the two Sons of Aaron Eleazar and Ithamar the Priests Numb 3.4 but in process of time David added many other musical instruments but he did it by authority and direction from God For so was the Commandment of the Lord by his Prophets 2 Chron 29.25 1 Chron. 16.42 2 Chron. 7.6 And in Solomons time we read of one hundred and twenty Priests that did sound with Trumpets at the Dedication of the Temple 2 Chron. 5.12 Also the Levites which were the Singers being arayed in white linnen having Cymbals aad Psalteries and Harps and with them one hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets And those Instruments of Musick which David made they are called the Instruments of Musick of the Lord for he made them according to the direction of the Seer All which shews the enlargement of the Church and its Joy and the improvement of the Worship of God in Gospel times here is one hundred and twenty Trumpets now whereas there was but two at first And as the number of Priests and Trumpets and musical instruments was much increased in Solomons time above what it was in the time of Moses so shall the Church and their spiritual Joy in the days of the Gospel under Christ who is the true Solomon They are increased now and shall be more and more in the later days Isai 60 and 61 chap. 7. And lastly but why was this Feast of Musick and Trumpets upon the first day of the seventh month why is that the appointed season for it Many accounts there are given by Interpreters which do all center in this because of the many great occurrences and dispensations of God in this month some whereof were past and were now to be remembred and some future which were now to be proclaimed and prepared for The World was created in this month which was at first the first month in the year until the account was changed upon occasion and in memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year to you Exod. 12.2 intimating that it was not so before There was approaching the Feast of Atonement upon the tenth day of this month which is thought to relate to the Golden Calf and the Lords pardoning that Idolatry also the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day The Temple of Solomon was dedicated in this month and now also was the Birth of Christ at this time God assumed and appeared in our nature pitching his Tabernacle or Tent in our Flesh All which things put together gives some account of the season of this Feast and of the solemnity of the blowing of Trumpets on the first day of this seventh month And so much for the fourth of these annual Festivals namely the Feast of Trumpets Now take this inference namely the unwarrantableness of Musical instruments in the Worship of God now under the Gospel You see of old there was an Institution for it there is not so now 22 ae q. 91. 2. 4. It is a very late invention of the Church of Rome Aquinas speaks against them as not used in the Church in his time saying they are legal and prefigure something of Christ therefore are not continued under the Gospel Consider these three things 1. They were a Type that is evident and hereby is typified the Musick and melody of the Joys and Graces of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of Gods people and many other Gospel lessons and instructions were held forth by this ancient legal Ordinance And Types you know are ceased and Shadowes are vanished now that the Substance is come look therefore after the inward musick of a good Conscience and the witness of the Holy Ghost there this is the Gospel-musick 2. If we could not find out the mystery and the direct signification of them which hath been cleared to you yet however these things were a legal burthen and childish rudiments therefore not becoming the mature estate of Believers under the new Testament though they might be a fit solace for the childish estate of the Church under the Law 3. This Cathedral Musick introduceth into the Church of God a Rabble of Church-Officers which the Lord never appointed and which never came into his heart the Choristers and Singing men c. and that is a very great evil It is not in the power of men but it is the great Prerogative of Jesus Christ to appoint Officers in his Church who hath appointed none but Pastors and Teachers Elders and Deacons 5. And lastly the Feast of Expiation or Atonement and this was on the tenth day of this seventh month the Rules and Rites whereof are set down at large in Levit. 16. which because they are many and very significant and full of Gospel-mysteries therefore I purpose the Lord assisting to speak to it more at large in a distinct Discourse by it self having here only mentioned it in its place to which it doth belong Quest Were these then all their yearly Feasts had they no more but these five under the Law viz. the Passover the Feast of Pentecost the Feast of Tabernales the Feast of Trumpets and
3. The Priest must be free from gross deformities and blemishes though he was subject to common humane infirmities Lev. 21 17. Say unto Aaron whosoever it is that hath any blemish let him not approach to offer Sacrifice for whatsoever man it is that hath any blemish he shall not approach a blind or lame or broken-footed or broken-handed c. he shall not come to offer the Offering of the Lord made by fire he hath a blemish he shall not come nigh to offer the Bread of his God These natural infirmities which the Priests under the Law must be free from taught us the absolute freedom of Jesus Christ from moral infirmities there is no blemish no spot found in him He wants no parts no gifts or sufficiency to discharge his whole Office and Function For such an High Priest becomes us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher then the Heavens Heb. 7.26 as they were to be free from those natural blemishes and defects so is Jesus Christ free from all sinful defects and blemishes That is a third Rule as to the qualifications of the Priests 4. They must be called unto this Office and must not intrude and thrust themselves into it The Lord said unto Moses take Aaron and his Sons with him from among the people that they may minister unto me in the Priests Office Exod. 28.1 The Apostle applies this also to Jesus Christ Heb. 5.4 5. he doth not take this honour to himself as no man should take the honour of the Priesthood to himself but he that was called as was Aaron so Jesus Christ was called of God the Father to this Office as the Priests were by Moses to their Levitical Ministry Christ glorified not himself to be made High Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son 5. The Priest must abstain from the use of Wine and Strong Drink when he is to do the Service of God in the Sanctuary and to minister before the Lord Lev. 10.9 And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink Wine nor Strong Drink thou nor thy Sons with thee when ye go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation lest he die c. so it is said in Ezek. 44.21 neither shall any Priest drink Wine when they enter into the inner Court The end of this was that they might be sure to administer and execute their Office aright lest they drink and forget the Law Prov. 31.5 lest they should err through Wine and be out of the way through Strong drink and stumble in Judgment Isai 28.7 Whoredom and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 Thus they were to abstain from the use of Wine and Strong drink This represents that undisturbed Sobriety and Wisdom of Jesus Christ in the whole execution of his Office as the great High Priest of his Church He was never forgetful of or unready for any part of his Office but he had clearness of Judgment and Wisdom at all times So the Ministers of the Gospel there is a secondary application of these things to them though first and chiefly it is applied to Jesus Christ himself Whatsoever is set forth concerning Jesus Christ doth secondarily point at Ministers and Christians in whom the Graces and Excellencies of Jesus Christ appear The Ministers of the Gospell must be sober and not men given to Wine 1 Tim. 3.3 A Bishop must not be given to Wine no striker or given to filthy lucre c. and the Apostle requires it also in other places that they should take heed of that sin they must be sober and watchful in all things 2 Tim. 4.5 But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an Evangelist make full proof of thy Ministry So all Believers likewise for it belongs likewise to them they should be sober and watch to the discharge of their Christian duty Be ye therefore sober 1 Tim. 4.7 and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 5.8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour It is a woful thing and a shameful thing when Ministers are given to Wine and Strong drink these are not Gods Ministers these are such as do not correspond with the Type And it is the fruit of the Wrath of God upon a people when he sets up such Ministers among them Mich. 2.11 If any man shall prophesie of Wine or of Strong drink he shall be the Prophet to this people Isai 56.10 11 12. his Watchmen are blind they are ignorant c. come say they we will fetch Wine and fill our selves with Strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundantly It is usually the prologue and introduction to great Desolations or Land-devouring Judgments when they have Priests that love Wine and Strong drink it brings Land-devouring Judgments And that is a fifth Rule concerning these Levitical Priests that they must abstain from Wine and Strong drink when they were to minister before the Lord. 6. The Priest might not marry a Widow or a divorced Woman or a Harlot but a Virgin of his people This is another peculiar observation required of men in that Order under the Law Lev. 21.13 14. And he shall take a Wife in her Virginity a Widow or a divorced Woman or profane or an Harlot these shall he not take but he shall take a Virgin of his own people to Wife c. The same thing is spoken also in Ezek. 44.22 neither shall they take to wife a Widow c. What is the meaning of this it cannot be a moral precept It is not unlawful for a Minister to marry a Widow Therefore look at the High Priest herein The Spouse of Jesus Christ ought to be a Virgin chaste and undefiled whose first and best Love is to be bestowed on him 2 Cor. 11.2 I am jealous over you with godly Jealousie for I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ And in Matth. 25. we find that Professors in some respects they are all Virgins though there be foolish Virgins as well as wife but it is especially applied to the sincere to the wise Virgins Rev. 14.4 These are they that are not defiled with Women for they are Virgins these follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Purity and Holiness is the property of true Believers an entire dedication of themselves to Jesus Christ alone The Virgins love thee Cant. 1.3 7. The seventh Rule and Observation about the Priesthood was this that he was not to mourn for the dead no not for his Father and Mother nor to attend their Funeral or to go out of the Sanctuary to intermit his Ministry Lev. 21.10 11 12. And he that is the High Priest among his Brethren he shall not uncover his head nor rent his clothes neither shall he go in to any dead body nor defile himself for his Father or for his
Vid. Engl. Annot. in loc 4. Moses was to fill the hand of the Priests with some parts of the Sacrifices ver 23 24 25. This interprets and lets you see the reason of that expression why Consecration is called filling of the hand Lev. 7.37 so Exod. 28.41 and here cap. 29. ver 9. It is because some parts of the Sacrifices were put into his hands at his Consecration as a pledge or symbol of putting such a business and intrusting such a work in his hands No man can or ought to undertake this or any other Trust or Office till the Lord fill his hand with it and commit the work and business to his trust A man can take unto himself nothing except it be given him from Heaven Joh. 3.27 they are the words of John the Baptist and he saith of Christ that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand ver 35. of that 3d. of John Now the Use of all these Rites of Consecration lies in such things as these 1. They were an external sign and representation of the Dignity of the Office therefore there were so many solemn and sacred Ceremonies in setting them apart thereunto and yet these Priests were but shadows of Jesus Christ our great and true High Priest whose Office is of incomparably more surpassing excellency and Dignity See 1 Cor. 3.7 8 9 10 11. 2. All these Rites of Consecration had this use to the Priests themselves to be Monitors or Remembrances to the Priests themselves that they might remember how pure and holy to the Lord they ought to be And the like Instruction they hold out to Believers who all are made spiritual Priests unto God that they ought to be holy to the Lord. 3. From the people they bespeak reverence and regard to the Priests and that for their works sake they having such Honour and Dignity put upon them in such a solemn Consecration to their Office Thus the Apostle in the New Testament chargeth the Thessalonians that they should know them that laboured among them that were over them in the Lord and admonished them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake 1 Thess 5.12 13. 4. We may learn also this from these sacred Rites of the Consecration of the Priests that under the New Testament there should be no Gospel-Ministers but such as are called and consecrated by God to that work see Heb. 5.4 'T is set as a Brand upon that wicked Jeroboam that he made of the basest of the people Priests even whosever would he consecrated him but this thing became sin to the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth as the Holy Ghost expresly tells us 1 Kings 13.33 34. THE GOSPEL of the MINISTRATIONS of the LEGAL MINISTRY Feb. 28. 1668. Morning and Afternoon Numb chap. 18. THere were three sorts of Officers in the old Legal Ministry 1. The Priests 2. The Levites 3. The Nethinims Of the Priests you have heard four things propounded 1. The special Rites and Qualifications of that Order of Priesthood 2. Their Priestly Apparrel 3. Their Consecration 4. Their Priestly Ministrations in the House of God This last remains to be spoken to for which this Chapter may be the Text and foundation of our Discourse The Chapter consists of two parts 1. The Work of the Priests and Levites 2. Their Maintenance 1. Their Work and Office to ver 8. The several Work of the Priests and of the Levites is here exactly distinguished their several Offices bounded and disterminated by the Soveraign Wisdom and Authority of God setting each their limits which they might not on highest penalties transgress and violate The charge of the Sanctuary and the Altar with the things appertaining thereunto was committed to the Priests the charge of the Tabernacle to the Levites ver 7. 1. For the Priests their work was the charge of the Sanctuary and the Altar and the holy Vessels and Services thereof These they must look to and of these God would require and expect an account at their hands And the Lord said unto Aaron thou and thy Sons and thy Fathers House with thee shall bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary and of your Priesthood ver 1. that is the guilt and punishment of whatever is done amiss in these matters The Stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death ver 7. the Stranger here is not meant of other People and Nations only as in other places but any other Family beside the Family of Aaron the rest of Israel yea the Levites themselves were Strangers in this sense There are many particulars comprised under this general head of the Charge of the Altar and Sanctuary in each of which I shall but briefly shew how they had an eye to Jesus Christ the Priest and Minister of the true Sanctuary 1. First then this includes the holy Vessels and all the hallowed things thereof ver 7. so Numb 4 5-15 and ver 16. In like manner hath God committed the whole Church of God and all the mysteries of our Salvation to the trust and care and charge of Jesus Christ for the Tabernacle is the Church All the concernments of his people all their Graces and Duties and Comforts meet in him and are under his special care and trust therefore they are said to be given to him by the Father Joh. 3.35 2. The offering Sacrifice and ordering that whole matter is here also plainly included as being part of the Charge of the Altar the Priest was to kill and dress the Sacrifices and sprinkle the Blood thereof and to manage and dispose of that whole affair Lev. 1.5 and he that is the Priest shall kill the Bullock before the Lord and the Priests the Sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the Blood c. Heb. 5.1 Every High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for Sins and the same Apostle applies it expresly to Jesus Christ Heb. 8.3 For every High Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of necessity that this man that is Christ have somewhat also to offer that is himself his own blessed Body and Humane nature This is the Sacrifice he offered And so he himself was both the Sacrifice and the Priest the Priest in regard of both his Natures and the Sacrifice in regard of his human nature see Heb. 10.10 11 12. No other can offer any expiatory Sacrifice to make atonement with the Lord but only he He trod the Wine-press alone in this respect and of the people there was none with him as Isai 63.3 3. The Priests were to light the seven sacred Lamps of the golden Candlestick Exod. 27.20 21. Lev. 24.2 3. This shadows forth Christ the true Light Joh. 1.9 shining forth and enlightening his Church by his Spirit in the Ministry of the Word For the Golden
expect it I say it is not Faith but presumption to expect it for Apostolical Gifts are ceased A Minister that is called to that work and is diligent in reading and meditation and in Prayer to God may expect assistance from the Spirit in this way for God hath promised it But he cannot expect it in the way of immediate Revelation because there is no such promise Now then seeing God hath ordained that the Ministry be a particular Calling so that it is not lawful for men that follow their Callings to take upon them to be constant Preachers and it is not lawful for one that is a constant Preacher to follow another Calling It follows that Ministers either must be maintained or else they must starve Quest There is also another Question concerning the way and manner of Maintenance whether it may be in any of these ways that were used under the Law or whether they be not all ceased and abolished Answ To this the Answer is easie that seeing the Maintenance of the Priests and Levites under the Law was raised all manner of ways the Maintenance of Gospel-Ministers must be in some of these or there can be no Maintenance at all For if Ministers do receive Maintenance by the Free-will-offerings and voluntary Contributions of the people so did the Levites under the Law If Ministers have Houses to dwell in provided for them the Legal Ministry had so too If Ministers have it by the Edict of the supream Magistrate so had the Levites too Ezr. 7.24 If Ministers have their Maintenance setled by Law by the consent of the people as by Act of Parliament This way was used under the Law likewise Josh 21.1 3. Nehem. 10.32 If Ministers under the Gospel receive Tythes so did they also under the Law only concerning Tythes it's observable that the most of the other ways were not used till first instituted under the Law yet Tythes were paid long before as a Due to God and to his use long before the Aaronical Priesthood or Levitical Ministry was instituted and appointed For Abraham paid Tythes to Melchizedek Gen. 14.20 and Jacob Gen. 28.22 resolves of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee Such ways and parts of their Maintenance as were inseparable appendants to the Types as their parts of the Sacrifices must needs be ceased because there are no such Sacrifices under the Gospel But for the other ways of Maintenance which were not of such a nature they may be lawful still for ought I know to the contrary Thus I have gone through the Temple-Officers both their kinds and their Maintenance And now to wind up all I shall but briefly recapitulate and gather up the heads of things and so conclude All these old legal Types and Shadows may be ranged into these seven Classes or general heads 1 Personal Types sundry individual persons before the Law such as Adam Enoch Noah Melchizedek Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph There were divers also under the Law such as Moses and Joshua Sampson David and Solomon Elijah Elisha and Jonah Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah And besides these individual persons that were Types there were also typical Ranks and Religious Orders of men under the Law such as their Nazarites their Prophets Priests and Kings All these were personal Types and this is the first Classis 2. Occasional Types such things as Jacobs Ladder Moses his burning Bush the Pillar of Cloud and Fire Manna and Water out of the Rock the Brazen Serpent the Pool of Bethesda And beside such typical things there were typical actions and dispensations of Providence as their deliverance out of Egypt their passing thorough the red Sea and thorough the Wilderness and thorough Jordan and possessing the Land of Canaan and their Captivity and Deliverance out of Babylon And there were not only such typical Mercies and Deliverances but typical Vengeance and Destruction upon Enemies the Flood Sodom and Gomorrah Egypt Jericho Babylon Edom were Types of Rome and Hell This is the second general head of Types these transient and occasional Types 3. The third is that initiating Seal of the Old Testament Circumcision that famous Ordinance which stood in force about two thousand years much longer then the Temple and Temple-Ordinances 4. The fourth is the holy Places as the Tabernacle and Temple with all the holy Vessels and Utensils belonging to them the Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering the molten Sea and Lavers the two Pillars of the Temple the Golden Candlestick the Tables of Shew-bread the Golden Altar and Censer of Incense the Ark with all the glorious appurtenances thereof This is the fourth Classis of them 5. The fifth is the Priesthod with all the Legal Ministry and all the concernments thereof the Rules of these Religious Orders their holy ministring Garments the Ephod the Brest-plate the Urim and Thummim the Mitre the holy Crown their Consecration to their Office their Administrations in their Office And to the Priests belonged as subordinate to them the Levites who were Porters Singers Treasurers Judges And lastly the Nethinims 6. The Legal Sacrifices and Purifications Their Burnt-offerings Meat-offerings Peace-offerings Sin-offerings Trespass-offerings the Purifications of unclean Touches unclean Meats unclean Issues and chiefly the Leprosie both the Signs and Indications and likewise the Purifications of it they were all typical 7. The seventh and last is the Jewish Festivals or holy times and seasons as the Passover Pentecost the Feast of Tabernacles the Feast of Trumpets the Feast of Expiation their New Moons their Sabbaths weekly every Saturday as also every seventh year and every fiftieth year seven times seven which is the Jubile These are some of the general heads of things which you have heard spoken to and the Gospel-mysteries included in them briefly opened and unfolded This is the proper and genuine method and order of them which to have thus rehearsed may a little help and refresh your memories There are three things more which must needs be added and annexed unto all that hath been said each of which might have deserved a distinct Discourse by it self But I shall but name them because I would conclude at this time 1. That all this typical Dispensation is expired and abolished by the exhibition of Jesus Christ the truth and substance and scope of all these Shadows are vanished away by the rising of that Sun of Righteousness this is that which the great Apostle doth expresly assert Col. 2.14 He hath blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross This the Jews do not believe 2. The Gospel-dispensation doth succeed and is substituted instead thereof so the same Apostle Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Instead of Moses the Servant of the Lord we have Christ himself the Son of God instead of the Law and the Prophets we have the Gospel and Evangelists who give us an History instead of Prophesie they tell us that Christ is come whereas the Law and the Prophets only said he shall come The Jewes do not believe this neither as they adhere to the Law so they reject the Gospel 3. This Gospel-dispensation is far more glorious then that old legal Dispensation For is not the substance better then shadows The Law from Mount Sion is more glorious then the Law from Mount Sinai the Spirit is better then the Letter 2 Cor. 3.6 to ver 11. The Letter there is not the written Word and the Spirit the Enthusiasms of a deluded fancy as some have understood it but the Letter is the Law and the Spirit is the Gospel as the whole Context shews And look as the Jews do not believe the two former so the Papists and other superstitious Christians do not believe this third and therefore they seek to adde an external legal Pomp and Splendor which is carnal to the Worship of the Gospel to the spiritual Majesty and Glory of the Gospel and Gospel-Ordinances which their carnal eyes are not able to see and to discern Remember these three things and carry them along with you The Abolition an Expiration of the Law with all the Types thereof The Succession and Substitution of the Gospel And the preeminence of Glory in the Gospel above the Law And now blessed be God who hath carried me through this Subject of the Types and Shadows of the Old Testament a Subject in it self useful and edifying were it handled according to its worth I must confess I have found some experience of assistance and help from God since first I entred upon it much beyond my own weakness and unworthiness I hope through the influence of your Prayers and through the Grace of Christ shining into a dark heart But I have been but brief in divers things which have deserved a much larger and better explication If you can say concerning any part or portion of holy Scripture that now you understand it something better and that you see a little more into it then you did before if you have found any refreshings by what you have heard any enlightenings and increasings of Gospel-light by it live up thereto and bless the Lord who hath taken off the Veil from off Moses's Face and the Veil from off your Hearts FINIS